


Hidden Lives

by Warren_Pace



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25434250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warren_Pace/pseuds/Warren_Pace
Summary: Liliana "Lily" Luthor has spent her entire life hiding from her family's legacy, but when National City's Kryptonian reveals herself. Lily worries that her family will soon follow. Secrets are flying and danger is rife in National City. When the lines drawn between friend, family, and alien begin to blur, how do you know who you are? And what do you do when that may be different from who you're destined to be? In the midst of it all is Winn, the cute IT guy helping Supergirl. After she traces a hack back to him it seems like things can only go uphill from there. But when it's time for her own secrets to come out, how will they affect those closest to her?Supergirl [Season 1]
Relationships: Winn Schott Jr./Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 4





	1. New Hero

The day everything changed Lily had been sitting at home. Enjoying a nice book on a comfy couch. She had the news running like always in case something interesting popped up. She'd glanced up absently to check the headline and tossed her book to the ground in shock.

_"Flight 237 bound for Geneva, is experiencing some loss of altitude. The pilot seems to be circling the city after apparent engine failure."_

_Alex's flight._ A wave of ice-cold dread hit her.

She cranked up the volume as the newscaster continued. _"We are receiving reports that the pilot is signaling for assistance. Air traffic control is scrambling to find a safe landing place. Though if the plane can make it that far remains to be_ — _"_ He stopped as someone tapped him on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear. _"The plane appears to be leveling off. More with Leyna Nguyen, live at the scene."_

The TV switched to a shot of Otto Binder Bridge. Where the plane appeared to have landed safely in the water. A woman stepped in front of the camera, speaking quickly.

_"The passengers of Flight 237 appear to have a guardian angel. When what many report to be a female flying form rescued them from certain death..."_

The woman continued to speak but Lily had stopped listening, the knot in her chest eased slightly but she had to make sure Alex was alright. After 3 unsuccessful calls, she sent a quick succinct text.

_I just saw the news. Are you ok?_

The reply came a few minutes later, short and sweet.

_Yes. I'll explain at work tomorrow._

It was formal, but then again all of Alex's texts seemed to be. She had never seemed to master the art of texting informally.

Lily knew that was all she was going to be out of Alex tonight. So she slipped off the couch and decided to call it an early night. She curled up in her hoodie and shorts and tried not to think about how much paperwork that flight was going to give her in the morning.

Morning seemed to come early the next day. Despite Alex being perfectly fine, her rattled nerves had kept her awake for another few hours. Silently cursing every bird twittering outside of her window, she rolled out of bed and fished a fresh outfit out of her closet. There was no point in anything very nice because she'd just change when she got to work.

She shuffled into the kitchen, more grateful than ever for the coffee maker her sister had insisted on giving her when she moved out.

_"At least this way you won't go broke financing your coffee addiction." Kiera had said, laughing as she always did at her own jokes._

_"Why would I pay for coffee when I could just use our trust fund?" Though Lily had intended the reply to be scathing, it sent them both into another fit of giggles. They never used that money if they could avoid it. It had too much dirt on it._

Lily smiled at the memory even now. Most of her family was better left in the best, but her elder sister would always be a source of joy and inspiration. She flicked the coffee maker on before retreating to the bathroom to make herself more presentable. She grabbed her purse off the counter and poured the coffee into a thermos before heading downstairs onto the bustling streets of National City.

The walk to the DEO wasn't a hike, but it wasn't short either. She enjoyed a nice breath of fresh air in the morning as she people watched so the 30 minutes walk was perfect for her. Swiping her key card at the gate she made her way to the locker room. As she pulled on the tight black garb that most agents were required to wear, she couldn't help staring at her face in the mirror. The eyes that were so like her brother's, a dark sad brown. Lily glanced away, not wanting to be pulled into memories of Lex. Even the good ones had been tainted by his madness now...

She threaded her way through the building to Alex's lab. She knocked lightly on the doorframe as she entered, so Alex wouldn't almost slice her with a laser. It had been an accident and Alex had apologized profusely, but ever since Lily had been careful to announce her presence when entering the lab.

Alex didn't even look up from the microscope. Instead, mumbling, "Hey, Lily."

" _Hey, Lily._ You almost died and all I get is 'hey, Lily'. _Unbelievable_." Anyone else would've missed the eye roll at the end of that statement. But, Alex was the closest thing she had to a sister, after Kiera. They knew each other's secrets. Alex knew her real last name, and Lily knew about Alex's sister.

So, she wasn't entirely surprised when Alex said, "I'm perfectly fine, Kara swooped in and saved the day..."

There was an indiscernible grumble at the end, but Lily had little doubt about what she'd said. She smiled to herself in spite of everything, Alex's fierce protectiveness was one of the things Lily loved most about her.

"You know she just wanted to help."

"I know, I know." Alex responded smiling a little sadly, "but now she's on the DEO's radar, and who knows who else might come after her now."

Lily nodded wisely, deciding not to voice her own worries about having a super in town. She chose instead to try to lighten the mood. "They'd have a tough time getting through you."

Alex laughed at the comment, thankful for the genuine support in her friend's voice.

Lily nudged Alex's shoulder playfully, "now are you going to show me your latest scientific discovery or what?"

Technically Lily was IT, keeping the firewalls up to date and making sure no one hacks the DEO. But her dual degree in computer science and biochemistry meant that she'd ended up helping Alex on more than one occasion.

Alex immediately launched into an explanation about a new genetic marker she'd found in one of the alien prisoners. A particularly unruly Cerulian, who kept trying to use his head to knock down his cell door. So there was a lot of DNA available to analyze.

"Larken, my office!" Hank's shout rang through the building.

Lily hopped off the counter she'd taken up residence on. "Guess that's me. If the warden kills me, send flowers." She placed a hand to her heart dramatically.

Alex's eyebrows quirked, her attention already returning to her experiment.

"Remember to get some sunlight once in a while, Doc." She tossed the words over her shoulder as she made her way toward Hank's office. Alex waved her off absently.

Hank's office was sparsely decorated. A few generic landscape pictures on the walls, file cabinet in the corner, and a standard-issue desk, were the only objects in the room. It was common knowledge that Hank hated it in here. He preferred to be out in the central hub, barking orders and pouring over the files of the Fort Rozz escapees. If he was meeting her in his office, it had to be important.

"Sir?" She called as she knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Lily stepped into the room cautiously, hoping she wasn't about to be reprimanded for going to Alex's post instead of her own. There was a file on his desk marked 'classified'.

"Shut the door behind you, Agent."

She did as she was told and sat down across from him.

"If this is about me going to the lab, I was about to—"

Hank held up a hand. "I'm aware of your track record, Agent, and I don't care what you do in your free time." He motioned towards the file, "I have an assignment for you."

Now she was even more confused, why hadn't he just left the assignment in her tray.

"I'm sure you watched the news last night."

She nodded, hoping this wasn't leading where she thought it was.

"We need to bring in Agent Danver's sister for a threat assessment, and I would like to know all the facts before doing so."

He handed the file to her. She didn't bother to open it, she was shocked about this assignment, to say the least.

"Sir, surely Agent Danvers would—"

But again he cut her off. "Agent Danvers will be informed when the time comes. Is that understood, Agent?"

Lily nodded mutely. Her stomach churning with the guilt of having to lie to her best friend.

Hank continued, "I need to know if she has any accomplices, if there are any outside factors, is the plane her first act of _heroics_ , etc... I expect a full report by the end of the week."

"Yes, Sir."

She tucked the file under her arm and left, making straight for her office.

A medium-sized room, it was the complete opposite of Hank's office. Exploding with personality in every direction. The walls were a vibrant blue, covered in posters of everything from musicians to books. A small green couch sat in the corner, currently stacked a few feet high with papers. There was a large whiteboard shoved against the back wall. The desk was littered in bobbleheads, colorful cups of pens, and a three-piece monitor set up.

She pulled her rolling chair out and sat down heavily. _Lie to my best friend for a week, what could go wrong?_ She glared at the file, wishing she had a dog to feed it to.

_Might as well start now, the sooner I finish, the sooner I can stop lying to Alex._

There was little in the file she didn't already know, the only thing Alex loved to talk about as much as science was her sister. Her mind wandered to a particularly memorable story Alex had told her.

_"This was a few months after she'd landed, right. So, she didn't know too much about Earth foods," Alex had doubled over giggling. "I managed to convince her that a ghost pepper was a desert." Lily had begun to giggle too, "she wouldn't eat anything I offered her for months after that without asking our parents first. And she's still apprehensive about new food I give her, it's almost like she thinks I'm not trustworthy"_

_Lily had punched Alex playfully, "that's evil." She said between giggles._

_She shrugged, "perks of an alien sister."_

_Lily shook her head, "after a story like that, I don't I'll be accepting food from you."_

Lily slammed the file shut.

The week passed slowly, and try as she might she couldn't bring herself to open that file. Finally, she just decided to bite the bullet. It was late Thursday and if she weren't careful she'd have to log a lot of weekend hours just to finish the report.

After skimming the file just to confirm she knew all of its contents, she tucked it into the top drawer of her desk, determined not to look at it again.

She pulled the whiteboard to the center of the room. Hoping to organize the jumble of thoughts in her head.

_ Facts _

_Same abilities as Superman_

_Similar costume_

_Superman's cousin_

_Saved a plane_

Ugh. Those were all things that they already knew, _what has she done recently?_

_Stopped petty crimes_

That was it, it had to be. How did Kara know about those crimes? _Super hearing maybe,_ but was Kryptonian hearing _that_ good? It couldn't be the news, no petty crimes would make the news fast enough to stop. Police scanner maybe? But those were much harder to come by in National City, too many journalists sniffing around for a story.

Lily shot up from where she'd been laying on the floor staring up at the whiteboard. The NCPD mainframe would have to digitize every officer dispatch, and in a city as on the ball as National City. That could happen _minutes_ after the call. Fast to enough for a super to act, but how did Kara get access to those? Nothing in Alex's many Kara stories had mentioned any sort of technical background.

Her eyes trailed back to the assignment she'd been given. Her finger ran down the paper before hovering on the word 'accomplice'. That had to be it, some tech person in the background telling Kara where to go.

Lily checked the NCPD signal for a hack. Thankfully this hacker, whoever they were, didn't think enough of the NCPD security protocols to bother hiding their identity very well. It took only minutes to follow the signal back to a local IP address in National City.

She grinned wildly, fist-bumping the Hermione bobblehead on her desk. "Booyah."

She was tempted to go straight to Hank with her findings but knew that if she did that Hank might very well bring Kara in tonight. She wanted to give Alex another day.

Lily decided to investigate the address herself and bring whatever she found to Hank the next day. It was late enough to clock out so she wasted no time in grabbing her bag and heading to the locker room. As she slipped on her civilian clothes, a thread from her shirt caught on the small gold pendant around her neck. Cursing in greek, she wrestled with the shirt for a moment before the thread slipped off.

She held the necklace in her hand a moment longer. Running a thumb over the elegant script engraved on the back.

_Kóri,_

_With love,_

_Lionel_

She smiled, even as her eyes brimmed with tears. Her father never could sign anything just 'dad' or 'papa', he always had to remind the world how amazing he thought his own name was. She missed the days when her father was still alive, Lex wasn't crazy yet, and Kiera hadn't left. They'd been a happy family once. Many _many_ years ago.

That was how Alex found her only minutes later as she clocked out of her own shift. Clutching a necklace and sobbing uncontrollably. Alex didn't say anything just immediately wrapped her arms around Lily comfortingly and rocked her gently.

Alex pet her hair gently, "shh."

"Thank you," Lily whispered. "It's easy to pretend that it was always bad, but Lex was kind once, and Lionel was a good father."

Alex didn't say anything, just continued to hold her until she stopped shaking.

"How about we get takeout and head back to my place for the night? My treat." Alex coaxed gently, trying to bring a smile to her friend's face.

Lily cracked a watery smile, "I never could resist free food."

"That's the spirit," Alex nudged her gently, making them both giggle.

By the time they'd picked up the food and made their way to Alex's apartment, Lily was feeling considerably better.

"You know there's only one thing that would make this better." She smiled slyly at Alex.

Alex laughed, already reaching over to pop in the Star Wars DVD.

"If you tell anyone I've seen this, I'll kill you." Alex had a great threatening face, but it didn't really work with a mouthful of noodles.

"Promises, promises." Lily chided as she stuck her tongue out, already moving into the kitchen to grab a wine bottle.

"Make it sure it's a red one," Alex called over the opening credits.

Lily laughed as she opened the cabinet that had _only_ red bottles.

"God forbid we drink white wine for once, Alex."

"Hey," Alex defended as Lily walked back into the living room with the glasses and the bottle. "You love that and you love me. So, what are you complaining about?"

The evening was full of light chuckles, comments about Han's looks (mostly Alex), and comments about Luke's looks (all Lily). Lily knew she'd have to check out the address in the morning, but for now, she chose to enjoy a nice movie with her best friend.


	2. Unusual Meetings

Lily was awake before Alex. Stretching, she hopped off the couch and folded the extra blanket she'd been using. She moved into the kitchen to get coffee. Alex kept a large jar in the fridge for sake of their impromptu sleepovers. It wasn't as good as a fresh brew, but her coffee addiction didn't care about flavor this early in the morning. As Lily was putting a mug in the microwave, Alex wandered in.

"Morning, Doc." Lily had called her that once and no matter how many times Alex grumbled about it making her sound old. The name just stuck, and it wasn't uncommon to hear it thrown around by other agents as well. Though Alex got much snippier with them than with Lily.

Alex nodded as she passed. Most people wouldn't talk before their morning caffeine, but Alex refused to speak to anyone until after her morning cinnamon roll. If coffee was Lily's addiction than sugar was probably Alex's.

Ten minutes later they sat at the small breakfast table. Alex enjoying her cinnamon roll alongside a rather disgusting looking vitamin drink, and Lily washing down her steaming coffee with a stolen piece of Alex's cinnamon roll. They just sat there, munching and drinking, enjoying a quiet few minutes before they had to get ready for work.

"You really shouldn't drink that much coffee when we have training." Alex's teasing tone broke the quiet spell.

"That's today?"

Alex nodded. Lily groaned dropping her head onto the coffee table.

"We already have to train every day, why do they make us do weekly sparring too?" She indicated her recently dislodged shoulder, "I've got enough bruises to chart the Milky Way."

"Sucks for you."

At Lily's questioning gaze, Alex elaborated. "I've got a doctor's note."

"Not fair. You used to bang him, he's biased."

Alex's cheeks turned pink. "That is not...he owes me a favor," Alex spluttered trying to regain her composure.

Lily raised an eyebrow, "oh, is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

"Shut up," Alex shoved her playfully. "Besides I'm going to use the free time to try to get through to Kara."

That soured the mood immediately. The gnawing guilt that has been forgotten for the nice breakfast was coming back in full force.

"I hope it works. Though if she really is as stubborn as you, you've got a real fight ahead of you." Lily tried to insert levity into her words to lighten the mood once more, but it came out a little hollow. Alex looked at her oddly, clearly taken aback by the unusual tone in her voice.

She quickly changed the subject, glancing at her watch, "I've got to run an errand for Hank. And you know he won't even take that as an excuse for tardiness." They laughed.

"Oh, that reminds me," Alex called as Lily moved into the kitchen, washing out her thermos and putting the new day's coffee in it. "What did Hank want the other day? I didn't see you for the rest of the day and then it completely slipped my mind."

She searched around for a reasonable excuse before the lie just fell out. "He was just annoyed that I wasn't at my desk. You know how he gets some times."

Hank's fits of strictness were not lost on his employees. Most of the time he was a reasonably tempered man, but occasionally he would just get ticked off by the smallest thing.

"I hope I didn't get you into too much trouble," Alex said worriedly, ready to rise to her friend's defense.

Lily waved her off, worried by how easy it was to lie to Alex. She didn't want to do it, it reminded her too much of Lex. He'd lied to everyone about everything just to get what he wanted. She shook the thought away, she had to get ready.

She slipped into one of Alex's smarter outfits, promising to return it, washed, the next day, and plopped her thermos into her purse.

"Good luck with Kara." She called as she slipped out the door.

The walk to the hacker's address wasn't too long. Nothing was very far away, especially in downtown National City. All the apartment buildings were clustered into a ten-block square. She ducked into an alley near the apartment, doing a quick recon of exit points. She patted the concealed holster that all agents were required to wear. Calmed by the security of being armed. Odds were Kara's ally would not be violent, but it didn't hurt to come prepared.

She fished one of her many badges out of her bag. It was standard protocol to have badges for other government organizations, as the DEO technically did not exist. Feeling comfortable in her cover, she tucked an NCPD badge into the breast pocket of the jacket she wore.

The apartment complex was nice, but not overly expensive. The kind of place that generally held nice law-abiding citizens. She checked her notes once more, confirming the apartment number before taking the stairs two at a time. On the third floor, she finally stopped near apartment 316.

She knocked without hesitation, mentally going over her cover story. _There was a disturbance in the area_ —

The door opened.

_He's cute._

The man who stood before her had short brown hair and a kind. He wore an unbuttoned cardigan over a button-up colored shirt.

"Hi, I'm Officer Clementine and we've had reports of a disturbance in the area. Can I ask you a few questions?" She pulled the badge out of her pocket and held it up for a moment.

"Of course, Officer." He opened the door wider, allowing her into the small neat apartment.

She stepped inside gratefully. "Uh, first things first. Name? For the record."

"Winn. Winn Schott." The name rang a faint bell in her head and she made a mental note to research it later. She shook his proferred hand.

"Were you here around 5 last night?" That was the most recent time she'd registered the hack in the NCPD database.

"Yes, I was catching up on some stuff for work. My boss just loves to give me more than I can handle."

Lily nodded, jotting that down on the notepad. "And do you remember anything unusual around that time?" _Like a blonde cheerleader in a red cape flying around the city._

"No, Officer. It was pretty boring. Just finished work, watched Return of the Jedi, didn't hear anything weird."

"Ah, that's a good one," Lily nodded absently as she spoke taking more notes on her surroundings. Nothing in the apartment screamed 'evil serial killer' but you could never be too careful.

Winn made his voice old and raspy, "do or do not, there is no try." Chuckled awkwardly as the silence stretched following his words.

Lily joined in on a whim, unsure if he was coming onto her, "use the force, young Skywalker." It seemed to be the right call and they both laughed.

The mood lightened and something warm seemed to form between them.

Lily asked a few more routine questions to disguise the real purpose of her visit.

_He worked at Catco. He'd lived in the city for the last few years, etc..._

Lily stood up, "well, thank you for your time, Mr. Schott."

"Winn! Please..." He trailed away clearly hoping for her name in response.

She smiled, "Lily."

The handshake was warmer this time. Their gaze met and she looked away, a pink tint to her cheeks. _Be professional,_ she chided herself, _you'll probably never see him again._

"Oh, uh." Winn called as she reached the door, "how do I get ahold of you if I think of anything?" The words again hung awkwardly in the air as though he was unsure how to do this, or even _what_ he was doing.

"Are you hiding something from a city official?" Her face was stern, but her voice revealed the teasing tone of her words. The flirty mood from early quickly returning now that her goal had been accomplished.

"Not all, Offic—Lily." He smiled awkwardly tucking his hands into his pockets. "But...I—uh—I might have a crime to report." The came out a little strangled. This was clearly not his forte and somehow that made it much cuter.

"Oh, what is that?" He was so easy to flirt with, she would've smacked herself for being so forward but he seemed to be feeling something similar.

"A stolen heart." His face was fully red now and his left kept rubbing the back of his neck uncertainly.

Lily almost laughed, unsure if that was the best response to his pick upline.

"Well, I might consider giving it back if you join me for coffee." She openly flirted, refusing to listen to the voice in her head calling this a _very_ bad idea.

Winn's eyes widened. He clearly hadn't expected that, but he nodded enthusiastically with a goofy grin. The red still hadn't left his cheeks, if anything it was worsening. Lily scribbled her number on a sheet of paper in her notebook. She ripped it out carefully and handed it to Winn.

"Call me." She winked and headed out the door. She needed to get to work or she'd be seriously late.

The walk to the DEO was short. Winn's apartment was only a few minutes away from it. _Ugh, Winn._ She chastised herself, _what are you doing? You can't go on a date with him. You lied three times in your first conversation._

Resisting the urge to bang her forehead against the wall, she changed quickly and headed to her office. Along the way, she bumped into Alex.

"Hey."

Lily made a face.

"Oh, I recognize that look." Alex slid an arm around her and continued conspiratorially, "boy trouble."

Lily dropped her head on Alex's shoulder with a huff. "You're one to talk, Ms. I'll-do-anything-for-a-doctor's-note."

Alex shoved Lily's head off her shoulder.

"Is he cute at least?" Alex fished for information casually.

"Come on, would I settle for anything less?" Lily said haughtily with an exaggerated flip of her long brown curls.

"Of course, your highness. How could I forget your impeccable standards?" Alex tossed in an eye roll at the end, but her huge grin made it rather hard to feign annoyance.

"I ran into him on my errand," that sounded better than, _he was the errand._ "And we totally geeked out about Star Wars. He used the absolute cheesiest pick-up line." Lily used her hands for emphasis as she gestured wildly, her cheeks slightly pink. "So I gave him my number, and we'll see what happens."

Alex pretended to gag, "if you buy Han and Leia towels I'm out."

Lily bumped Alex, "you're just jealous that you don't have a Han of your own."

"Oh, so he's Han now. That's a step up." Alex waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up, we talked for five minutes. It's not like we're soulmates." Lily glanced at the notebook in her hands. "Now, I'm going to finish my report before you start planning the wedding."

"I had better be the maid of honor," Alex called as Lily walked away.

Lily flipped her off without turning around.

The rest of the day passed quickly.

Writing the report wasn't too difficult, but she did feel rather about writing a threat assessment of the cute guy she hoped to go on a date with. She ran a background search to make certain she had all the relevant information. Most of it came as no surprise, a degree in computer science, the IT department at Catco. She paused, her mouse hovering over a name on the birth certificate.

_Father: Winslow Schott Sr._

The bells that had gone off in the apartment were ringing again, and a quick search told her why.

_"Winslow Schott Sr. AKA "Toyman" was convicted of the murder of six people and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He sent a teddy bear bomb to Chester Dunholtz, the package was instead opened by his assistant. It exploded, killing her and five other people."_

Lily closed the article, her stomach churning. A wave of understanding shot through her at the subtle way Winn had changed his name to distance himself from his father. She could understand that, after all, she'd changed her last name to avoid the stigma of her family. And went only by a nickname, because her actual first name was too close to her mother's.

She debated for a while on whether to include this information in the file. On the one hand, she needed to do a comprehensive report, but she also knew that you couldn't judge someone by the maniacs in their family. Eventually, she decided against it. Not wanting to bias Hank against Winn, and the information was easy to find if he looked for it.

 _All in all,_ she concluded, going back to her report. _Winslow Schott Jr.'s background in computer science makes him a capable hacker. But, he appears to be a negligible threat._

Lily leaned back in her chair and stretched. She glanced at the clock, it was early enough in the day that Hank could still bring in Kara. Knowing there was no point in prolonging the inevitable, she decided to just rip the bandaid off and give Hank the file. She walked to his office slowly and knocked on the door cautiously, not wanting to disturb him.

"Come in." His voice was gruff and left no room for disobedience.

Lily pushed open the door, entered the room, and closed the door before she started talking.

"Sir, I finished the report." She handed him the file, "I found an accomplice of Kara Danvers. His name is Winn Schott Jr., an IT tech at Catco. He's been hacking the NCPD dispatch. I conducted a threat level assessment this morning and found his threat level to be negligible."

Hank nodded appreciatively, "good work, Agent. I'll look over the file, we're picking up Miss Danvers tonight."

Lily tried not to blanch at the callousness in his tone, emotional distance was just part of the job.

"Sir, if I might request? Could I be the one to tell Alex about tonight's assignment?"

Hank sized her up for a moment before nodding. "Tell her we leave at 1800, we're going to the mountain facility."

Lily nodded, "sir," and left.

Lily found Alex in her lab, pouring over her latest experiment. A beaker bubbled over a small flame, its contents glowing ominously. Again she knocked before entering, remembering her close encounter with the laser.

"Hey, Doc. Trying to find a new stage in human evolution?"

Alex laughed at Lily's tendency to overplay the importance of her experiments.

"Just studying that skin sample I told you about last time. It did something really weird when I tried to clean. So now I'm testing its response to different chemicals in the cleaner."

"Cool." It really did sound interesting, but Lily was on a mission. "Hey, what do you say we go spar, like old times? I bet I can still kick your ass."

"Oh please. You could never kick my ass."

"Is that a yes?" Lily poked her friend, earning a laugh before her hand was swatted away.

"Sure." Alex pulled off the lab coat, "it would be good to get out of the lab for a bit."

Lily tugged her hand impatiently, "come on."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Alex turned the dial on the small burner, extinguishing the flame. She made sure everything else was off before she joined Lily in the doorway.

They headed down the stairs and took a right to the small gym that agents used for onsight training. The room was sparsely furnished, various exercise machines were lined up against a far wall, a large fan overhead kept the room cool, and in the center of the room was the large mat that agents used for sparring sessions. Alex stretched against one wall, and Lily put her hair in a tight bun before doing the same.

"So what's on your mind?"

"Hmm," Lily looked up at Alex's question.

"You normally want to spar because there's something on your mind. So spill."

Lily shifted from foot to foot. "I'll tell you once we get started. I need to move, I've been stuck at that desk all day."

Alex nodded and they both moved toward the mat.

"Standard rules?" Alex asked.

Lily nodded. " _Uncle_ means forfeit. No cheap shots."

They danced around the mat for a minute, loosening their muscles as they assumed a fighting stance.

Lily swung first, a sharp jab that Alex blocked. Alex retaliated with a fast cross that caught Lily's unbruised shoulder, instead of the jaw she'd been aiming for.

"So." Lily began, swinging again. "Hank gave me an assignment I didn't tell you about."

Alex said nothing, waiting for her to elaborate. She tried a roundhouse kick with her leg, that Lily caught. Intending to flip her by the leg, Lily was caught off guard when Alex pulled her leg back forcefully throwing Lily off balance.

As Lily caught herself, she continued. "He wanted me to do a threat assessment so we could bring Kara in."

Alex's cross didn't miss this time and Lily could feel her jaw bruising.

Lily held a hand to her cheek gingerly and looked up at Alex. Her face was stony.

"Hank wants us to be ready for transport to the mountain at 1800."

Alex walked off the mat, toward the door.

"Alex, wait," Lily called pleadingly. "Say something, please."

"Uncle," Alex didn't turn around, her voice as stony as her face.

It was a tense two hours until the 1800 transport. Lily had retreated to her office, not wanting to face the prospect of running into Alex. She had no doubt that she deserved her black and blue cheek, but it still stung.

The time seemed to drag by, and Lily tried to distract herself with minor IT jobs she'd been putting off. The image of Alex's stony face kept popping into her mind, but she knew it was too early to apologize. Alex had a fiery temper and it was no use talking to her while she was all riled up. With forty-five minutes to go, Lily was starting to get antsy. She wasn't sure if she could handle the thirty-minute ride to the mountains.

Her phone chimed momentarily distracting her from her internal tirade.

_Unknown number: Is it too late to take you up on coffee? —Winn_

In spite of the bruise on her cheek, she smiled. She could almost hear the awkward note in his voice as she text. Alex was momentarily pushed from her mind.

_Sure. Have you ever been to Mocha Owl?_

The small coffee shop was close to the DEO, only a five-minute walk. Plenty of time to get there and back before the transport left.

_Winn: See you in ten?_

Lily agreed and grabbed her bag, it was no use wallowing here another minute. She clocked out without talking to anyone. She took a large breath of cool city air as she exited the building, there was something about cold air that just a person feel so alive.

As she'd expected, she arrived with a few minutes to spare. She took a seat on a comfy couch in the back and sipped from her coffee thermos. Winn arrived a few minutes later, looking just as cute as he had this morning, his considerably more windswept though.

"I see you came prepared," he motioned to the thermos in her hands.

She shrugged, "what can I say? I'm a pro when it comes to coffee." She glanced out the window enjoying the view for a moment, but the moment brought Winn's focus to her cheek.

"You look like you lost a fight with the world's tallest doorknob."

Lily laughed, "just a mistake on the job. They can't all be an interview with a cute nerd."

Winn laughed and his cheeks turned pink, clearly not used to being so openly complimented.

"So how did your day go? Did you ever catch the guy that caused the disturbance?"

Lily nodded, remembering her cover. Now with a twinge of regret, _why did I have to the lie to the cute guy?_

"Yeah, one of your neighbors saw something. It wasn't hard to go from there."

"What about you? Did your boss pile on you again?"

Winn shook his head, "thankfully it wasn't too much. I think I had a bit of good luck today."

His eyes met hers and he turned pink. Lily's own cheeks heated up at the implication.

From a conversation about work, it was easy enough to slide into an animated discussion about the Star Wars franchise.

"I'm just saying," Lily attempted to counter Winn's point. "The prequel trilogy really didn't do the series any favors. I mean we all knew where Anikan's story was going to end, so what's the point?"

Winn held a hand to his heart, clearly wounded. "The point? The point is that any good prequel expands on a story. Sure, we knew Anikan was going to be evil, but we got to learn _how_ he turned evil. Isn't it so much more interesting when you know the villain's tragic backstory?" Lily enjoyed the way his awkwardness completely evaporated into a passion as he talked about the movie. The words ' _villain's tragic backstory_ ' struck a chord in her heart, but she pushed the pain away. She really did not want to think of Lex right now.

Her eyes wandered over Winn's face, looking more through him than at him. She wondered if those words made him think of his father. Of all the terrible things he'd done or like she did with Lex, of the kind soul he used to be.

Winn waved a hand in front of her cautiously, "am I boring you? Because there are a million other things I could talk about. I mean it's not every day I get to have coffee with a pretty girl so..." His voice trailed away clearly embarrassed at the accidental compliment.

"No, no. I love Star Wars. You just reminded me of someone."

Winn clearly caught the tone in her voice and didn't ask her to elaborate. That flash of camaraderie she'd had when reading about his father was back. His hand brushed hers on the table and she smiled at the sweet gesture. Both of them two awkward to fully hold hands on the first date. _Was this a date?_

That thought went out the window as she glanced at her watch. She jerked her hand back quickly, shoving her thermos into her purse. She only had ten minutes before the transport left. Hank would kill her if she was late.

"Do you have somewhere else to be? Because I'm beginning to feel like your mistress."

"Oh, no." Lily waved off the comment, "I just have to meet my partner for a stakeout soon and he's a real stickler about being on time." She stood up collecting her purse. She paused, unsure what the proper goodbye gesture was. Should she hug him? A handshake maybe?

She realized she'd paused too long and waved awkwardly. "We should do this again." She beamed at him, ignoring the pain in her cheek.

Winn nodded, his eyes shining, "definitely."

Lily sipped her thermos as she walked back to the DEO. She was running low on coffee, but she figured soon enough she'd be running on adrenaline just fine. She clocked back in quickly and changed into her work clothes in record time, meeting Alex and Hank in the large command hub. The latter nodded at her while the former didn't say a word.

"Good of you to join us, Agent. Your file was very informative." Alex stiffened slightly at Hank's words and the knot in her stomach that had unclenched at the coffee shop came back twice as painfully.

"Vasquez, you're in charge." Hank barked as they headed towards the garage.

"Sir," came the response.

They piled into the transport silently. No one daring to break the awkward spell until finally Alex got fed up.

"Sir, why was I not informed of this operation before?"

"Personal involvement. You're too close to the target, Danvers."

Alex bit back what was probably a scathing reply and didn't say another word until they arrived at the mountain. They threaded their way through the labyrinth-like building to the room where Alex's sister lay sedated.

Alex blatantly flinched at the kryptonite dart still stuck in her chest, Lily knew this was her biggest fear.

Hank noticed. "Take a minute, Danvers. She'll be out at least a half-hour."

Alex nodded and left the room silently.

"Sir," Lily started, motioning after Alex. "Can I?"

Hank nodded.

Lily ran after her best friend. "Alex," she called, walking up hesitantly. Not sure if Alex would want her company. When Alex yell Lily took that as an ok to sit down. "I know this scares you. I know if it were Kiera in there, I'd be terrified." She slid a little closer to Alex. "You're sister is different and that makes her special, and yes, it means that people will be scared of her and they may try to do bad things to her. But Alex,"—Lily held her cheek gently, looking her in the eyes— "Hank Henshaw is not one of those people." Lily slid an arm around Alex, and Alex lay her head on Lily's shoulder. "We have known Hank for a long time, and he may be a hardass,"—Alex laughed lightly—"but, he is not a bad person."

Alex nodded her head against Lily's shoulder. They stayed like that for a few more minutes before Alex sat up. She wiped the tears from her eyes and smoothed her shirt. As she stood up she didn't meet Lily's gaze, and Lily knew there were still some bridges to be mended. But their friendship was not broken forever.

Lily and Alex leaned against the wall waiting for Kara to wake. Alex had insisted on unbuckling the Kryptonite cuffs on her sister's wrist and Hank clearly hadn't agreed, but he'd allowed it.

A while later the room was filled with a groan as Kara finally woke. She immediately tried to get up, clearly unsettled by her new surroundings. However, there was enough of the Kryptonite still in her system that she was weak. She fell back to the table with a quiet thud. Lily glanced at Alex to see how she was handling this, only find her face just as stony as it had been when she punched Lily.

"What is this place? Who are you?" Kara was very clearly panicking

Hank stepped into her field of vision. "My name is Hank Henshaw. This is Agent Larken." He pointed to Lily. "And I believe you already know Agent Danvers." Alex moved to her sister's side, trying to hold her hand comfortingly, but Kara jerked away.

"Alex?" Betrayal was etched into her voice, and Lily could see that it was almost enough to make Alex's careful mask crumble.


	3. Supergirl

"This is the D.E.O., the Department of Extranormal Operations," Hank spoke, turning Kara's attention to him. "We specialize in monitoring and neutralizing otherworldly threats. That means you."

Alex visibly flinched at his choice of words, her masks crumbling by the second. Hank motioned to the door, and Alex tried to help Kara sit up but again Kara shrugged her sister off. The three of them followed Hank to the door and down a long hall to the central room where Kara's pod was kept.

"Your ship." Hank gestured to the object, like a bored tour guide. "And others." He pointed to various ships visible through glass walls and on monitors. Kara's pod was still the only one they had positively identified.

Kara's gaze halted on one of the pods, sleek and slender with a coat of arms on the side. "That's a Daxamite ship." Disgust dripped from her voice.

Lily looked at Alex questioningly, hoping for an explanation. Alex just shrugged, clearly as confused as she was. Kara clearly refused to elaborate, untrusting of the three agents. Alex most of all...

Hank looked nonplussed, seeming unsurprised by her outburst. When it became clear that Kara wouldn't say anything else, he continued.

"We keep your ship here as a reminder of the day you crashed. It was actually you're arrival that showed us the need for this organization."

Kara blinked, speechless. Lily couldn't blame her, it was a lot to take in. Eventually regaining her wits, Kara said, "I don't understand. My cousin was here two dozen years before me."

Hank nodded. "He may have been the first, but you proved that there were more coming. A lot more in your case." Hank pressed a button on the vast array of computers and a photo of a familiar Kryptonian prison popped up. "When your ship escaped the phantom zone, you pulled Fort Rozz with you. Unleashing the worst convicts in the galaxy on Earth." He pressed another button and the mugshots they'd been able to retrieve from the prison's computer popped. "For over a decade they've stayed hidden. But in the last year, many have been emerging, making themselves known. They're planning something. We're just not sure what it is yet."

Kara gasped, the gears grinding in her head before she whirled on Alex. "Your plane! Your plane wasn't an accident. They must've been trying to kill you."

No one spoke. It was an avenue they'd considered. But there wasn't enough evidence, and at the end of the day, it didn't matter. The Fort Rozz escapees would be hunted down, either way, they were too dangerous to be loose on Earth.

"I can help you stop them," Kara was grasping at straws. Pleading for a chance to prove herself. Lily winced, painfully reminded of herself when she'd started at the DEO.

"Maybe—" Lily started, glancing at Hank, but he shut her down instantly.

"How?" He openly scoffed at Kara, "you couldn't even stop us from capturing you."

"I'm...still learning," Kara replied, her voice small.

"Look, Ms. Danvers. Our job is to keep people in the dark about alien life on Earth, and nothing says 'covert operation' like a flying woman in a red skirt."

Kara's temper had clearly been ignited, her next words were much stronger. "They know about my cousin, and they don't fear him." Kara was painfully naive. As Lily and Alex knew there would always be people who hated and feared things that were different.

Hank voiced what neither of them had the heart to say, "Plenty of people do, just not popular to admit it. You wanna help? Go back to getting someone's coffee."

Hank walked away leaving no room for discussion.

Alex immediately began to plead with her sister, "I know you're mad and you're hurt. I wanted to tell you every single day." She held out her hands placatingly trying to stem the coming flood of anger.

Lily moved off in the same direction Hank had, giving them the space they needed. She waited by the transport, just wanting this day to be over already.

Her phone buzzed.

_Incoming call from Lena Luthor._

Lily picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Kiera."

Her sister laughed. "I missed that. You know you're the only one who calls me that."

"What can I say? I'm special."

They bantered back and forth lightly for a few minutes before her sister finally said why she was calling.

"I want to rebrand the family company."

Lily's breath hitched, memories of herself and her sister tied up in chairs while Lex wreaked havoc on their city flashed before her eyes.

"Lily?" Lena asked uncertainly.

She didn't answer at first, taking shuddering breaths as she reigned in her emotions.

"Why do you have to ask me? It's your company."

"Lily." Lena sighed. "I know that you don't want anything to do with the company and I don't blame you. But you still own half of it."

After Lex's arrest, with their father dead and their mother in the wind, the company had been divided between the two of them. Lily had promptly fled Metropolis and never come back. Choosing to ignore her newfound responsibility.

"I don't want it." She breathed to her sister, her voice small.

"I knew you'd say that. I had my lawyer draw up the papers to transfer ownership. You can look them over tonight."

Lily nodded. "Yeah. Ok."

"It really was nice talking to you." They'd talked only a few times since Lily had left. Never for very long and never about anything of much substance. This was the first deep conversation they'd had in years. Even if it had gone straight for the kill shot and brought up Lex and the company he'd dragged through the mud.

"You too, Kiera. If you ever take a break from your empire, come visit me." This single conversation had been enough to remind her how much she missed the only family she had left.

"Love you, Kóri." It was automatic, once upon a time, Kiera had said it to her every day. But this was the first time she'd said it since Lionel's funeral.

There was silence on both ends of the line.

"I love you too, Kiera." Lily hung up quickly.

She wiped a tear from her eyes choosing to focus on the happy memories that name generated.

_Lily had been only five, but she remembered it clear as day. Lionel had just gotten back from work at his company. He'd pick her up as he came through the front door, swinging her around like a superhero as she giggled madly._

_"How is my Kóri today?"_

_She'd made a face at the unfamiliar word. "Silly, my name is Lily." She had explained with all the seriousness a five-year-old could muster._

_Lionel laughed, a great booming laugh that filled the room. "I know. Kóri is an old word, it means daughter. And every time I say it, I'm proud that you're my daughter."_

_She'd beamed up at him, as he spun her around once more before setting her on the ground._

_But a five-year-old's emotions were fickle._

_She shook her head petulantly as he set her down. "I don't like old stuff." She'd stuck her tongue out, hating the idea of anything remotely old._

_"Is that right?" Lionel crouched down until he was eye level with her. "I guess you don't want your present then. It's really old."_

_She was scandalized at the thought of being cheated out of a present. "No." She shook her so fiercely that she almost fell over. "Gimme."_

_He pulled a small gold necklace out of his pocket. It glittered in the light, not looking nearly as old as he'd claimed. She reached out both hands, stretching on her tiptoes trying to grab it._

_Lionel held it just out of reach. "What's the magic word?"_

_Lily pouted and Lionel almost caved. Finally, she said, slightly annoyed, "please."_

_He set the chain into her hands. It weighed more than she expected and she nearly dropped it. She looked at it with wonder, proud of the shiny object that was now hers._

_"Promise me you'll always wear this." She'd been taken aback by his serious tone, even at five she'd sensed something was wrong._

_So, she nodded seriously. "I promise."_

_Lionel smiled. "I love you so much." He kissed her forehead before moving on to his study._

She rubbed the pendant. The familiar grooves of the engraved lettering brought her comfort. "I promise, dad." She murmured, her words echoing across the years.

Alex arrived a few minutes later. Slightly out of breath, as though she'd been shouting. Lily opened her mouth to ask how things went with Kara, but something in Alex's expression made her old off. Besides, it wasn't hard to infer that Kara had been angry.

The ride back to the base in the city was even quieter than the ride coming here. An awkward silence stretched between the three of them.

Lily practically jumped out of the van when it finally parked in the garage. She headed straight for the locker room, not having the energy to change but also not willing to be in the DEO another second.

She stuffed her uniform into her locker, not bothering to fold it like she normally did. She slammed her locker shut. Her forehead rested against it for a moment, and she closed her eyes. Trying not to think of all the things that seemed to be crashing down around her today.

She was bone tired as she walked back home. And it was midnight and she had no patience to revel in the city's sights tonight. She knew the walk from the DEO to her building by heart, so she paid little attention to the sidewalk in front of her until she crashed into something and warm.

_A cardigan._

And in that cardigan, _Winn._

"Hey." It was all she could think of, the last thing she wanted right now was a conversation. Even with a nice guy, but she couldn't just say nothing after she'd crashed into him headfirst.

"Hi." He replied. He seemed just as distracted as she was. Glancing up and down the street as he spoke. "Great night for a walk isn't it." He rubbed the back of his neck, though it seemed more out of frustration than awkwardness.

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I got off work like five minutes ago."

He half-nodded. His gaze wandering again.

"What are you looking for?"

"Just a friend of mine. We were talking and now I can't get ahold of her. She's probably just at her apartment, but I thought I'd check." He waved casually, trying and failing to make it seem like no big deal.

Her stomach knotted, _Kara. He's out here looking for her._ Her worry was alleviated by the fact that Kara would most likely be home when Winn got there. She tried to keep her face lightly concerned. As though she wasn't one of the people responsible for kidnapping his friend.

"It's nice of you to check on her." She offered, trying to ease a bit of the tension on his face.

He nodded, trying to smile, but it came out forced.

They both moved to walk down the sidewalk in the direction they'd been going before.

"Uh, Winn." She called, making him turn. "Text me when you get home, so I can make sure you weren't killed or anything."

He nodded, a real smile ghosting his lips this time.

A couple of the city sights finally appealed to her as she continued walking. A bit of the crumbling weight she'd been carrying had eased.

She tried to keep awake for Winn's text, just to be sure nothing bad happened, but exhaustion eventually one out and she fell asleep.

She rolled out of bed late the next day. The alarm clock on her nightstand sleepily blinking, _10:37._ She yawned widely, she happened slept that long in a while. Memories of Lex kept coming to the forefront, turning her nights restless and terror-filled.

She grabbed her phone from the nightstand, pleased to find a message from Winn waiting for her.

_Winn: I'm fine, but my ghost would have been happy to join you for coff_

Lily smiled at the half-finished last word, sleep had clearly caught up with him as he wrote. It warmed her heart that he'd still written even though he'd been dead tired. She shot a quick response.

_Lily: Glad to hear it :)_

She moved through the kitchen, taking her time, no need to rush on a Saturday. After turning the coffee maker on, she moved to counter. She sat down and booted up her laptop, prepared to look over the papers Kiera had sent the night before.

An unfamiliar logo greeted her as she pulled up the documents. She smiled at the name her sister had chosen, _L-Corp_. Getting as far away from the Luthor name as it could, was the best move the company could make.

She scanned the documents, trusting her sister not to throw in any confusing loopholes and crazy legal jargon. Satisfied, she signed the papers electronically, before sending them back. She fired a quick text to Kiera to let her know what she'd done.

_Lily: Congrats on being the solo queen of L-Corp. I just sent the papers. I like the name :)_

She'd just opened the fridge, her hand inches from the egg carton when there was a knock on the door.

"Coming." She shouted, setting the eggs on the counter. She grabbed sweatpants off the stool and shrugged them on.

"Hi," Alex said awkwardly.

"Hey." Lily had absolutely no idea what to say. Words were generally easy with Alex, but she was on rocky ground at the moment. She let Alex have the first word.

"I won't apologize for being mad, but I shouldn't have hit you, and I'm sorry for that. I...get it now. When I talked to Kara last night. We keep all these secrets in the name of our job, and sometimes people get hurt. You did it to me and I did it to Kara. I know you didn't do it to hurt me." Alex shifted uncertainly as she finished. Not sure what to do now that she'd finished.

"I was about to make pancakes." Lily opened the door wider, unspokenly inviting her friend inside.

"And cinnamon rolls?" Alex asked, her face lighting up.

Lily nodded and they both smiled. The awkwardness quickly dissipating as Alex stepped inside.

"I'll even let you use my blender to make your nasty vitamin drink." Alex laughed at her words. Now that Alex had tossed Lily a line, the words came much easier. Soon they were wrapped in conversation like nothing had changed.

"So tell me more about this cute guy you met the other day," Alex said. Reaching around Lily to steal a strawberry that she had chopped for the pancakes.

Lily smacked her hand away, no one got between her and strawberry pancakes. "There's not much to tell really. I ran into him again last night, we talked again. It was nice." Lily shrugged. About to skate around the _how_ of her meeting with Winn, but she stopped. _No more secrets._

"There's something I should tell you." Alex nodded, miraculously holding another strawberry. Lily rolled her eyes. "His name is Winn, and I met him because I was doing a threat assessment on Supergirl's allies." The name felt odd rolling off her tongue, _Supergirl._ Catco had coined the name that morning, other news stations jumping on the bandwagon. It suited her though, Alex clearly agreed, as she smiled at the word.

"So on your first meeting with prince charming, you lied your socks off?"

"Shut up." Lily brandished the chopping knife threateningly, but Alex only laughed. "How was I supposed to know he'd be so cute?"

"Stop it," Lily reprimanded, Alex had sneakily reached for another strawberry. "Keep that up and I won't make you cinnamon rolls."

Alex gasped, "you wouldn't dare."

"Then keep your hands off _my_ strawberries." Lily moved the bowl to the far side of the corner before turning away to grab a skillet for the pancakes. "Go make your smoothie." Alex's hand paused inches away from the strawberry bowl and she pouted before sliding off the barstool.

"Fine, fine." Alex raised her hands in defeat. "Do you even have vegetables in this apartment?"

"I do." Lily looked offended. Alex rolled her eyes.

Alex opened the fridge, reaching for the plastic container with her name on it. Lily kept it there for Alex's smoothies like Alex kept a jar of coffee for Lily in her fridge.

Lily flicked on the radio and soon they were both jamming out as the small kitchen filled with the smells of breakfast.


	4. Alien A Mano (And Unlikely Bar Companions)

The week following Kara's threat assessment seemed to be going smoothly. Granted, Lily was only ten minutes into Monday, but she was hopeful. The weekend had flown by. She and Alex had spent most of the weekend together, just goofing off and pretending that Alex was still on speaking terms with her sister.

It had taken the entire weekend of coaxing, but Alex was going to see Kara tonight and hopefully, things would go smoother this time.

Things seemed to be looking up, so of course, she ended up spilling her coffee thermos on her shirt. _I jinxed it,_ she thought as she furiously tried to scrub at the stain. Five minutes of scrubbing later and it looked the exact same, _maybe_ a shade lighter. Lily frowned, tempted to bang her head against the desk, before remembering that she had a spare uniform in her locker.

This eased her worries considerably, but there was still a dull burning pain on her chest where the scalding liquid had hit.

She changed in the locker room quickly before returning to her office. Lily tried to focus on work and succeeded in doing a few routine touch-ups to the firewall. She was just beginning to get into the swing of work when there was a ringing in her ears followed by a dull throb behind her eyes.

Taking that as her cue for a lunch break, she grabbed her small lunchbox and headed to Alex's lab. She always preferred to eat in there so they could laugh or complain about their days together, depending on the mood.

There was a distinct singed scent as Lily entered the lab, and she coughed. "Yikes, Alex. What did you set on fire?"

"That would be me." Lily took in the charred sleeves of her friend's shirt, and the soot on her arms and cringed.

"What happened?" She asked, leading Alex to the locker room for a change of clothes, her lunch forgotten on one of Alex's desks.

"I was running some more tests on that skin sample. It turns out borax lights it on fire." Alex ran a hand through her hair as she spoke, leaving a sooty trail on her forehead.

"So your shirt was covered flaming _soap_?" Lily asked, trying, and failing to stifle a grin.

Alex bumped shoulders with her. "You know this doesn't even break my top ten craziest days here."

Lily laughed this time, a big raucous laugh. She hadn't laughed like that in a long time, it felt nice. Ever since she'd talked to Kiera about the company, it was like a weight off her shoulders. "I'm not surprised."

"Do you remember when David rigged the coffee maker to explode?" Alex made a face at Lily's words.

"How could I forget? Hank smelled like chocolate for days."

They shared a laugh, remembering the young agent who'd thought Hank would appreciate an April Fools prank. Somehow he'd managed to rig the coffee maker to spray liquid at the first person to use it, thankfully it had been full of lukewarm hot chocolate and not scalding coffee.

"Whatever happened to that guy?" Lily mused as they continued down the hall.

"I think he's a pencil pusher in Metropolis now."

Lily laughed again, "I'll bet he's happy to far far away from Hank."

Alex nudged her playfully, "I would too if I pulled a stunt like that."

They arrived at the locker room, and Lily pushed the door open with Alex following.

"It's nice to know that I wasn't the only one with a wardrobe malfunction today." She called as Alex changed.

"Uh-huh. Well, whatever it is can't be cooler than exploding soap."

"It definitely wasn't _cooler_ ," Lily nodded absently as she spoke. "But the next time you spill hot coffee down your shirt you can let me know."

Alex made a face, again. Wincing sympathetically as she slipped the clean shirt over her head.

As Alex shoved her shirt into her locker, Lily suddenly remembered why she'd come up to Alex's lab in the first place. "Hey, don't forget your lunch." Alex nodded. Rooting around for a moment before she finally dug it out of the jumble in her locker. "I still don't get why you keep your food in that mess. You have a million tables in your lab, why not use one of them?"

"And risk confusing it with one of my experiments? I don't think so."

"Has that happened?" Lily had to stifle a grin at the thought.

Alex's face twisted in disgust and she didn't answer.

_Ring._

_Ring._

It wasn't an alarm they heard often at the DEO, it meant that one of the Fort Rozz escapees had shown up on their radar. They shared a glance before tearing off toward the central hub of the building.

Hank was barking orders when they got there.

"Larken and Danvers, nice of you to join us. I need you to lead a strike team down to the National City Power Plant. Supergirl and Vartox are fighting there and I need damage control."

"Sir." They spoke in unison.

"Parker, Smith, I want full tactical gear. We leave as soon as the chopper is ready." Alex directed her words at two experienced field agents, easily slipping into her place as Assistant Director. They nodded, jogging off to prep. "You too, Larken."

Lily nodded, "Sir." There wasn't any sarcasm in her voice, she would never undermine her friend in a crisis.

Lily could slip on the gear in her sleep and they were meeting Alex at the chopper a minute later. Alex nodded at them as they jogged up, letting them file in before hopping in herself.

"Smith, let me know when we have visual," Alex told him, Smith nodded from the pilot seat.

It was a good five minutes before Smith's reply came over their headsets. "I have a visual, Sir."

Alex leaned forward to peer out the front window and assess the situation. Lily peeked behind her, catching a glimpse of the action. What she saw wasn't good, Kara was pinned under Vartox and no amount of struggling seemed to free her.

"Fire a warning shot," Alex barked. "Let's scare him off her."

The chopper's warning shot had the desired effect. Vartox looked up in surprise at the explosion. Kara used that moment to shove him off her, he went flying into a brick wall. That didn't seem to slow him down though. He was up again in seconds, but he seemed to think twice about attacking Kara again. He fled.

Alex grabbed a rope attached to the side of the chopper and climbed down to the plant below.

"Larken," Alex spoke calmly over the comms. "Take the chopper and pursue the hostile."

"Roger."

They left Alex alone with Kara, taking off after the Vartox. It was a fruitless chase, they lost him in a dense wood after only a few minutes.

"Larken," Alex's voice came over the comms. They'd just told her about losing Vartox's trail. "Come pick us up, we're headed to the mountain."

No one spoke as they flew to the mountain. Tactically, it was a good move. The mountain was closer and there was no need to show Supergirl more than one of their bases. Lily winced at her own thought, _that's not just some alien hostile, that's your best friend's sister._

When they touched down Alex headed straight for her lab, Lily followed both for moral support and in case Alex needed help. She hung back far enough to give them privacy as Alex extracted the sliver of Vartox's ax from Kara's arm.

Kara rubbed her arm where the piece had removed, wincing. "I've never felt pain like that before. I mean I've never felt pain."

Alex sighed, a familiar expression on her face. Lily had seen it a million times whenever Alex talked about Kara's powers. "You're not indestructible, Kara."

"It was a nice move, nearly letting Vartox cut you in half," Hank spoke, from the computer banks where he'd been sitting and watching. His voice dripped with condescension, he still hadn't warmed to the idea of an alien hero in National City.

"We have a piece of the weapon now," Alex cut in, defending her sister. "We can analyze it and figure out how to defeat him." As she spoke, Alex inserted the fragment into the computer for analysis.

"Look at that," Hank spoke as the machine finished its analysis. "You did help." He chuckled sarcastically. He went off to his command hub, as he finished speaking, presumably to try and track down Vartox.

"Did you know about my mom?" Kara's words made Alex turn from the computer and face her, pain evident on her face. "That she was the one who locked up all those aliens?"

Lily shifted from foot to foot in the corner, unsure whether to leave or stay. She didn't want to leave Alex alone but on the other hand, Kara didn't know her that well, and her presence might make the situation worse. For now, though, she didn't move and just tried to make herself as small as possible.

Alex nodded. Seemingly resigned to the fact that this conversation was happening whether she liked it or not. "It's why I didn't want you going out there. Showing yourself, and showing this symbol." She gestured to the 'S' on Kara's chest. "The Fort Rozz escapees would give anything to get revenge on your mother and the only way they can do that now is to hurt you." Alex grabbed her sister's hands in a pleading gesture. "I'm trying to protect you, Kara."

"You were right," Kara's eyes slowly filled with tears as she spoke. "The world doesn't need me."

Alex stood frozen in shock at her sister's dejected words. She just watched Kara trudge out of the DEO.

Lily put a hand on Alex's shoulder reassuringly, "she'll be okay."

Alex put her hand over Lily's and squeezed gently, her gaze never leaving her sister. Alex laid her head on their clasped hands, and they just stayed that way. Even after Kara disappeared from view, they just stood there silently, giving each other moral support.

Lily left work early, it had been a crazy day, and she needed to unwind. She headed straight for her usual haunt automatically, a little bar called _Five by Six_. She nodded to a few regulars as she passed, she came here often enough after a bad day that she knew most of the faces and a few names.

Alcohol was her favorite way to wash away bad memories. It had started when Lex spiraled, and now it was a habit she couldn't quite shake. Granted, it wasn't as bad as it had been during the height of Lex's megalomania, but the presence of a super in town was stirring bad memories.

She couldn't bring herself to share her fears with Alex, she didn't want to be another Luthor accusing a super of causing problems. But when she saw Kara flying around, it reminded her of all that she'd lost, everything Lex had _taken._

Lily slid into a vacant seat at the bar.

"The usual," she requested as Dan sidled over to take her order.

He nodded, "sure thing."

She slid her phone out as he filled up the cup, intending to text Alex. Misery loved company after all, but her hand stilled as she remembered Alex's plan to convince Kara that she was actually a hero. That was too important to her friend, she wouldn't divert Alex's attention, just so she wouldn't have to sit alone in a bar.

Two-thirds of the way into her second glass and she had her phone out again, this time to text Winn. They'd talked a lot over the weekend, from in-depth conversations about Star Trek or Lord of The Rings to her phone buzzing with a random cat video as she read a book. Each text left a warm feeling in her chest.

She really shouldn't have been sending tipsy texts, but misery's need for company was stronger than her rationale at this point. The message she sent was rambling and had more than a few misspelled words, but it got the point across. If she'd had less to drink, she might worry about how pathetic it sounded, asking Winn to join her here because she was lonely.

After ten minutes of no reply, she flipped her phone face down and guzzled the rest of her drink. She stood up, thinking it might be time to go.

"Whoa, where's the fire?"

She spun around, her balance impaired and fell into the man who'd spoken. Winn caught her awkwardly, looking unsure what to do in this situation.

"Hey, cutie." She was sober enough to know exactly what she was saying but drunk enough to have no filter left. "Glad you could make it."

Winn chuckled awkwardly, the heat rising in his cheeks as she made herself comfortable against his chest. Winn moved closer to the counter as best he could with her head resting against his shoulder.

"Two glasses of water please." Dan laughed, looked at Lily, and then nodded. "So, what has you hiding in a bar and drowning your sorrows?" Winn prodded gently, trying to be helpful.

"Ugh." She flopped her head on the counter like a child. "Family."

Winn's face darkened, and he nodded understandingly.

"My brother did a very bad thing." She was rambling now, and dangerously close to saying her secret. "A bad bad bad bad bad thing." She pointed a finger at him each time she said 'bad'. "And he doesn't care, but _I_ care. I care so much." She spread her hands carelessly, emphasizing the 'much' as best she could. "And it ruined my life."

Winn nodded, listening to her ramble. She knew he understood, even as he slid a glass of water her way. There was a look in his eyes, one that you only see in people who have gone through the same kind of trauma.

"Drink up, or you're going to have a hangover tomorrow."

"Pssh." She downed the glass in one. "This is nothing. I used to drink triple this, but then I stoppered..." she frowned at the counter and corrected herself, " _stopped_."

_Crash._

One of the glasses Dan had been refilling slipped through his hands and smashed on the floor. He immediately bent down to sweep it up, muttering apologies to the owner of the glass. But what caught Lily's eye was the way Winn's entire body flinched at the noise, as though recalling a traumatic... _memory._

 _Oh, Winn._ She thought as realization flooded her, and it was that, more than anything could've at the moment, that sobered her up.

Lily was more in control of her words when she spoke. "I think that's enough for me. I could use a cup of coffee though, want to go somewhere else?"

Lily offered him a hand, she didn't want to make it clear that she'd seen him flinch, but she was still careful not to touch him without his permission. They both chose not to acknowledge the way her hand hovered for a moment before holding his or the small nod he gave before she did so. As they both stood up, Winn fished his wallet out of his pocket and left a bill on the counter.

"You don't have to do that," she said, already reaching for her purse.

He shrugged. "I want to."

She smiled, what felt like her first genuine smile since Alex had lit herself on fire. "Thank you. It's nice to know chivalry isn't dead." She squeezed his hand gently, hoping it sent the right message, and they set off together for Mocha Owl.

The coffee shop was quiet and uncrowded when they walked through the door. They picked a soft couch in the corner and sat down together. Lily leaned her head contentedly on Winn's shoulder, the alcohol making her drowsy as it worked its way through her system.

"Thank you for coming." She spoke finally, "this is still new, but it's nice to know that getting drunk texts from me in the middle of the week doesn't scare you off."

"It would take a lot more than that to scare me away." He smiled at her thoughtfully, his eyes wandering over her face as he spoke. She shifted her head on his shoulder to look up at him and something in the tender way he's looking at her had her moving her head from his shoulder. She leaned forward slowly as something electric seemed to snap into place between them, like that flash of understanding, but deeper and more _meaningful._

They came together in a short sweet kiss. Their eyes locked as they pulled apart, Winn was grinning like a child who'd snuck a cookie from the cookie jar and Lily knew she was smiling just as much. She giggled, a combination of the emotional high and the alcohol in her blood.

They sat much closer now as they finished their coffees in silence, enjoying each other's company.

When it was finally time to go, Lily put a bill on the table before Winn had even reached for his wallet. "It's my turn to be chivalrous."

His smile never wavered, still giddy from the kiss, but his cheeks did redden slightly in a flattered blush. "Thanks," he muttered, for lack of a better response.

The weather was pleasant outside, and they conversed lightly about the odd sights along the way. Two guys huddled around a plant (that was probably not legal), a squirrel that appeared to be chasing a poodle, and a half-lit neon sign that flashed something very inappropriate. The electric feeling that had snapped into place earlier was still there, keeping awkwardness at bay and helping the conversation flow naturally.

Lily was disappointed when they reached her building, afraid that if they parted now they might lose whatever this feeling was.

"Uh," she searched for a reason for Winn to stay. Winn watched her patiently as she tried to find the words. "Do you want to have dinner?" She stumbled to make the offer sound more appealing as Winn looked at her, surprised. "I mean, I'm a good cook, and I'm in the mood for pasta and I always make more than I can eat. Sooo." She rubbed her neck awkwardly, feeling much like Winn must have when he first asked for her number.

"Sure." Though it didn't entirely show on his face Winn was flattered that she got this nervous about dinner.

"Great!" She threw her arms around his neck in excitement, she almost kissed him but wasn't sure if that was the right move. _Was it too early?_ They'd already kissed once, but was that a flook?

Winn thankfully leaned forward and met her halfway. They walked up to her apartment, hand in hand.

She entered her kitchen, and Winn sat on the stool. It felt so much like her meals with Alex that the awkwardness that had briefly filtered in vanished again.

"There's some fruit on the counter if you want a snack," she called as she stuck her head in the fridge reaching for a package of meat. "Just don't touch the strawberries, I'm very protective of my strawberries."

There was a muffled choking noise and she turned to find Winn grinning sheepishly, a half-eaten strawberry in his hand.

He looked so cute that Lily had to laugh, "I'll let it go this time, but I'm warning you. My apartment, _my strawberries._ "

He nodded, her laughter echoed in his eyes as he looked at her. The evening went uphill from there, they tossed lively quips at each other as she cooked. Winn even helped at one point, but it soon became clear that he shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen when he accidentally started a small fire on the stove. Lily smothered it with a towel, as he apologized profusely.

"It's fine," she waved him off. "Do you know how many things I set on fire when my dad first let me near the stove?" She turned on another burner as she spoke, letting the meat brown. "Let's just say I stopped counting after double digits."

She directed Winn to the wine cabinet as she drained the noodles into a colander, "just pick something you like."

They met at the small table that doubled as a breakfast and dining table. It was one of the nicest things in the apartment, like the coffee maker, Kiera insisted on giving her sister a few things to furnish the apartment.

"It's nothing fancy," Lily admitted as she handed Winn a plate of noodles and sauce, "but it's tasty."

He smiled taking the plate from her, "it looks amazing."


	5. Becoming The Hero

_Ring._

_Ring._

_Ugh_ , Lily thought as she turned over, woken by the noise. _Who's calling at this time of night?_ The clock on the nightstand blinked harshly in her face, _12:34._ She almost ignored the call, but when she saw it was Alex calling she couldn't help the fact that it might be important. With a sigh, she picked up the phone.

"Hello?" She grumbled.

"Lily," Alex jumped straight into an explanation, "we found Vartox. I convinced Kara to help us fight him, but I need your help to convince Hank."

"You're lucky I love you," Lily grumbled into the phone as she kicked the covers off her. It took her a few minutes of searching to find an outfit, she was unwilling to turn on the lights just yet. Not wanting to deal with the harsh glare of lights on her hungover brain.

"Great," Alex responded, "because we're outside."

Lily rubbed her forehead, sensing a headache coming on. "'We' being...?" She trailed off into a question.

"Kara and I."

Lily freaked. "You really think a covert op at one in the morning is the best way for me to meet your sister?!" She whispered harshly into the phone.

"Technically you already met her," Alex argued back, coaxingly.

"Oh yeah," Lily's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I'm sure kidnapping her made a great first impression."

"Oh stop whining. You have five minutes before I get Kara to kick your door down."

Lily sighed as Alex hung up. She slipped on her clothes relatively quickly, grabbed a pair of sneakers, and crept past the couch where Winn slept. It had been late when they'd finally finished talking, too late for her to feel safe sending him back to his apartment alone, and she'd been too tired to walk with him. So, she'd offered him the couch and he'd responded gratefully with an awkward blush.

She didn't turn on any lights as she moved through the living room toward the front door, scooping up her purse along the way, so the light of the apartment hallway was harsh on her eyes. She closed the apartment door, careful not to make a sound. She blinked rapidly, the light only making her headache worse.

"This is the last time I do anything nice for you, Alex," she rubbed her forehead as she spoke.

Alex spoke softly from her sister's side, "are you ok?"

Lily nodded, "just a headache." She was unwilling to tell Alex she'd been at the bar again, that was a rebuttal for another day. Her gaze wandered as she rubbed her head again, taking in Alex in the same outfit as before and Kara in her super suit.

"Hey, Kara." Lily finally said awkwardly.

For a person as open as Alex had described her to be, Kara's face was scarily unreadable as she sized Lily up and down.

"Hi." She finally replied. That was all, but Lily could sense the note of approval. "Alex has told me a lot about you."

Lily shot Alex a glare as they walked down the hall to the stairs. "All good things hopefully."

Alex shrugged, smirking.

"I'm sorry about how we had to meet." Lily did her best to apologize.

Alex spoke before Kara could, "that wasn't you, that was Hank." Her gaze shifted to her sister. "And we are going to show him how wrong he was."

Kara smiled mischievously and Lily recognized a bit of Alex in her. _Maybe we could be friends,_ she wondered as they walked. When they reached the floor of the apartment building Kara flew them to the mountain, one at a time. The whole process took a couple of minutes, at most, and was both frightening and exhilarating.

The three of them walked into the mountain together, Alex and Lily on either side of Kara.

"Well if it isn't Agent Danvers and her sister from another planet." Hank's tone suggested that he really couldn't be bothered by their presence.

"Sir." Lily ventured, unsure if he'd noticed her presence yet. "I know that you distrust aliens and, given who we've interacted with in the past, I can't blame you, but Kara is different."

Alex stepped up beside her and helped hammer her point home. "And if you want our help with this, you're going to accept Kara's."

It really wasn't as risky a gamble as it sounded. Stubborn though Hank could be, he cared about his employees, and was even something of a father to both Lily and Alex. He'd never call them out on this.

Hank sighed, resigned to the fact that he'd been backed into a corner. His hard gaze shifting to Kara, "you play by my rules and you only get one chance."

"That's all I need," Kara replied.

"Sir," Vasquez called from the computer screen she was monitoring. "Uh, ma'am's." She added, noticing the others. "Vartox is moving quickly, whatever we're doing, we need to do it fast."

Hank nodded, he turned to Kara. "One chance." He repeated emphatically.

"Kara," Alex called before her sister had a chance to fly off. "I analyzed Vartox's ax. Its temperature is very carefully regulated, it'll explode if it gets any hotter."

Kara nodded understandingly, grateful for the information.

_Boom._

Kara flew out so fast it shattered a few windows and left a faint ringing in Lily's ears. Patting her head a few times until the ringing went away, Lily moved over to Alex.

"She'll be ok. You gave her everything she needs to win."

Alex nodded halfheartedly, "I hope so."

It was nail-biting, watching from the command hub unable to do anything as Kara fought Vartox, for Alex especially. She tried so hard to protect her sister and now she was forced to sit on the sidelines as her sister fought for her life.

Tensions mounted as Vartox's ax came within inches of splitting Kara's skull, but then she used her heat vision and it was over as the ax exploded.

Kara returned, bruised and dirty, but proud. Her smile a mile wide as the adrenaline rush of the battle pulsed through her.

She smiled at Alex's congratulatory words, but a frown tugged at her lips. "Vartox said something. 'I'm not the real threat, something else is coming.'"

She recounted his words from memory, and dread pooled in Lily's stomach. The more aliens that flocked to the city, the more likely it was that her more unpleasant family members might show their faces.

She pushed away the worry for the moment though. There was no point in worrying until they knew what the threat was. It could be years away for all they knew.

It was four in the morning when Lily finally arrived back at her apartment. Winn slept in the same position as before, and she smiled, glad that she hadn't woken him.

She kicked off her shoes at the door, wanting nothing more than to flop into bed and never get up. Her purse was deposited on a barstool as she passed. She set it down carefully, trying not to jingle its contents.

As she passed the couch, she recalled Alex's whispered advice before they'd parted for the night.

_Alex stayed at Lily's apartment for a few minutes, even after Kara flew away. She grabbed Lily's hand before Lily opened the apartment._

_"You have to tell him."_

_"Tell who what?" Lily only half played dumb, her mind was tired and her thoughts were sluggish, but it didn't take a genius to recognize that Alex was talking about Winn. "It's too early." Lily shrugged as she spoke._

_Alex sighed, clearly having no more patience for this 4 AM conversation than Lily did. "He's going to find out, either way, I don't know when, but Kara is going to tell him. He needs to hear it from you."_

_Lily rubbed her arms as though cold, searching for something to say. "I don't know if it's that kind of relat—"_

_Alex cut her off, "you're not fooling anyone. There's something there, and I know you're scared. But not everyone is Lex, not everyone is going to hurt you."_

_"If your family hurts you, what do you have left?"_

_"Me!" Alex's voice raised as she whisper-yelled, "you have me and you'll always have me, it's okay to have him too."_

_Lily was too tired for this conversation, in the morning this would all make more sense, but now it was just annoying. "Thank you, Dr. Phil, but I'd really like to sleep a little bit tonight."_

_Alex sighed but dropped the topic. They both knew this conversation wasn't over._

Lily's eyes trailed over his face a moment as Alex's words washed over her. She shook her head and moved to the bedroom.

It was mid-morning when Lily woke, a few hours later than she normally got up for work, but she doubted Hank would begrudge her a couple of extra hours after the crazy night they'd all had. The smell of freshly roasted coffee beans greeted her as she woke up more, she smiled at the scent.

She wandered into the kitchen to find Winn hunched over the coffee maker. It looked so domestic that she couldn't help but smile. Almost as if he were the doting boyfriend and not a guy she'd let crash on her couch.

"Hi."

He jumped, clearly he hadn't noticed her entrance. "I swear I wasn't doing anything weird, I just remembered you liked coffee, and I wanted to do something nice since you let me stay and didn't kick me out on the streets late at night to face certain death..." He trailed away uncertainly, his face turning scarlet as he sank in an embarrassed silence.

The coffee maker beeped and he jumped again, slightly this time.

"So...coffee?" He gestured towards the machine helplessly.

Lily smiled at him, a warm feeling in her chest. "Thank you." The feeling grew warmer as he smiled back awkwardly. "And thank you for last night."

He held her gaze, "I get it. Family can be...complicated."

Lily opened her mouth, an explanation about her brother hanging heavily on her tongue.

"Oh no." Winn glanced at his watch in horror. "I am going to be very late to work if I don't leave now."

Lily nodded understandingly. "See you later." She cringed, that sounded way too non-personal to say to her not-quite-boyfriend/date-partner-guy.

He stood there a moment more, clearly debating something before he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "Bye." He all but sprinted for the door after that.

Lily touched her cheek with a dazed smile. They'd had actual kisses before but this peck on the cheek somehow felt much more intimate and personal.

Lily wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that Alex might be right about Winn.

She stayed there a little longer, sipping her coffee and smiling, letting a bit more of the day slip away. Eventually, about an hour or so before noon she finally trudged into the office. As she'd expected, Hank simply gave her a nod as she passed and didn't chew her out on being a couple of hours late.

She completed a few assignments that she'd let slide, mainly unfreezing computers and helping people recover files. She did a few touch-ups on the firewall where she noticed possible holes, by then it was noon and her stomach was grumbling, tasty though coffee might be, it was not food.

Lily grabbed her lunch off the desk. She just stared at the box for a few moments wondering if it was worth getting grilled by Alex not to eat alone. Finally, she sighed and moved to the door, they'd have to talk about it sooner or later. _Might as well be sooner._

Thankfully, nothing was on fire when Lily entered the lab and there were no odd smells.

"Hey." Lily called as she moved into Alex's lab, "nice to see that you haven't set yourself on fire again."

Alex looked up from her microscope just long enough to stick her tongue out at Lily before returning to her experiment.

"So what are you doing today, Doc?"

"I'm analyzing that piece of Vartox's ax again, I thought it might be able to give us a clue what he was talking about."

Lily nodded. "Always trying to change the world, Doc."

Alex shook her head. "Just trying to look after my sister." Alex suddenly clapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh."

"Doc? Did you set yourself on fire again?"

Alex shook her head, reaching for a tablet. She peeled off her glove before grabbing it. "I meant to show you this."

Lily glanced at the screen, it was a news article with the headline, _Supergirl Goes Mano A Reptile In The Desert._

Alex was quivering with excitement, and Lily smiled. Knowing that this paper was going into Alex's scrapbook. Technically, Alex had _two_ scrapbooks. One for Kara, and one for Lily. She put newspaper articles about them and other achievements in the books.

Lily remembered the first time she'd found Alex's _Lily Scrapbook._

_Lily had been sitting on the couch in Alex's apartment, waiting for Alex to bring the bottle of wine from the kitchen when something caught her eye._

_There was a binder underneath the coffee table. She would've ignored it, except for the fact that her name was written on the cover in a delicate gold script._

_"Hmm." She hummed uncertainly as she reached for it._

_She wasn't sure what she expected when she opened it, but whatever it was, it certainly wasn't what she actually got. Inside were photocopies of various news articles, each mentioning the research projects Lily had participated in._

_Each page had a little stick note on it, commenting in positive insightful ways about the research projects._

_"Hey, I ran out of red, so we'll—oh" Alex stopped as she caught sight of the binder in Lily's hands._

_"What is this?" Lily asked uncertainly, a wall going up. The binder seemed very stalkerish._

_"It's your scrapbook." Alex moved to the cabinet above the TV as she spoke. She carefully extracted a similar binder, only the gold print on this one said, Kara. "It's something I've been doing since I was a kid. Kara, my sister, and I didn't always get along, but I was always proud of her. So, I started collecting little snippets about her achievements."_

_Alex flipped open Kara's binder and showed her the first page. The article read: Sheriff Indicted In Murder Of Local Teen._

_"It was the first time we really worked together. He was a friend of Kara's..." Alex's voice trailed away as her fingers traced the obituary photo accompanying the article. When she finally looked up, her eyes were glistening slightly. She swallowed loudly before speaking again, "I just wanted a way to show you that I'm proud of you."_

_Suddenly Alex wasn't the only one crying. Loath as Lily was to admit it, that was the first time someone had said that to her. In the Luthor family, it was considered a weakness to find pride anywhere but yourself._

_After that night Lily counted Alex not as a friend, but as a sister._

Lily teared up a little at the memory, even now years later it was still a shining beacon of kindness.

"Make sure you leave enough room for all the other times she's going to save the day." Lily smiled warmly as she spoke. "You know." She said as Alex turned off the tablet and slipped her glove back on, "Kara might listen to you more if you showed her all this. There was a time I would've done anything for my siblings' approval."

Alex grimaced. "It's hard enough to rein her in as it is. If I told her I was proud of all this she'd never stop and I wouldn't be able to protect her."

Lily shook her head. "Stubborn as mules, the both of you."

Alex rolled her eyes, only half listening as she focused again on the ax shard. Lily opened up her lunch, and the rest of the lunch hour passed in amicable silence with Alex working and Lily eating.


	6. A Truth Among Lies

_Boom._

Lily rubbed her eyes sleepily as Hank ordered yet another missile launched at Kara. She glanced over to see Alex also rubbing her eyes, it was no wonder considering Hank had dragged them out of bed at the crack of dawn to test the limits of Kara's powers.

"Is that the fastest that she can go?" Hank complained as Kara dodged the onslaught.

"Are these tests mandatory for everyone?" Kara asked over comms, "or is it just because—"

Hank cut her off, "it's not because you're a woman, Ms. Danvers. The DEO requires months of tests and training before allowing operatives into the field. We've accelerated the process in your case, but we still need to be sure."

"I was going to say 'alien'," Kara muttered, a little deflated from Hank's lecture.

Lily grimaced, Hank had that effect on people. He always managed to make you feel like a scolded child.

"We need to be sure you're in full control of your powers. You're no good to us if destroy half of National City on accident."

There was another _boom_ as Kara flew by even faster this time.

Alex laughed as she spoke, "my sister just broke the sound barrier, Sir."

Hank didn't look impressed in the slightest. "Fire again," he barked the words, motioning rapidly with his hands to speed the process.

Lily sipped her coffee, not awake enough to interfere in the conversation.

After a bit more coffee and a few more earth-shattering booms as Hank launched yet more missiles, Lily finally felt awake enough to talk. She sidled over to Alex, who was making notes on a small clipboard, the glass whiteboard she'd previously been using had been shattered by Kara's sonic boom.

"Anything interesting?" Lily asked peering over Alex's shoulder.

"No." Alex shook her head thoughtfully, "it's all at or below Clark's levels. Which is to be expected since she hasn't used her powers in over a decade." Alex's last comment was more of a mutter to herself as she made another note.

Now that Lily was more awake she could truly appreciate that, while noisy and cumbersome, the missiles may have indeed been the best way to test Kara's powers. Their speed and destructive power could very well be comparable to that of some of the Fort Rozz escapees.

Kara landed lightly next to them, looking sore but exhilarated.

"How many missiles is that?" Kara asked resting a head on Alex's shoulder with a sigh.

Alex shook her head. "I lost count after the first dozen."

"Ugh." Kara stretched dramatically, "can't he just accept that I know what I'm doing?"

Lily and Alex shared a look before laughing sarcastically.

"Hank doesn't do _trust_ very well." Lily spoke up first, "he barely trusts us and we've been here for years." It was a bit of an exaggeration, but true enough in this case.

"Hank always wants to see for himself," Alex added, bending down to pick up a piece of the shattered whiteboard. She quickly copied what is said onto her clipboard.

"Sorry about that." Kara offered awkwardly, motioning to the former whiteboard.

Alex shrugged her off, picking up another piece, and repeating the process.

Lily nudged Alex playfully, "Alex loves jigsaws and you've just given her a thousand-piece puzzle."

Kara laughed as Alex stuck her tongue out.

While Alex's attention was focused on another glass shard, Kara leaned towards Lily and whispered. "I'm really glad Alex had someone like you here."

Lily was taken aback by Kara's warm smile, she'd been worried that the Kryptonian would be more hostile about the whole kidnapping ordeal. Lily's cheeks flushed under Kara's kind gaze, still not used to affection from anyone other than Alex.

"It was nothing," Lily responded awkwardly, avoiding Kara's gaze for fear she'd turn even redder.

"Ms. Danvers," Hank barked. "If you're done gossiping we have a test to finish."

Kara groaned, stretching again, before flying off.

Another boom shook the camp and Lily sighed, this was going to be a long day.

It was noon when Hank finally let them go back to their location in the city. Kara had been called off to deal with a fire in the port, and there was no point continuing without her. Lily's neck was stiff and sore after staring at the sky for a few hours straight, and she rubbed it as she moved down the hall to her office.

She wanted nothing more than to have a relaxing lunch, but in the chaos of getting up a few hours earlier than usual, she'd forgotten to pack one.

She grabbed her purse, intending to make a coffee shop run when her phone buzzed.

_Winn: Are you free for lunch?_

Lily smiled to herself as she read the text, she could practically hear the hesitation in his words. Wondering if he was pushing too far too fast. Lily wondered that too occasionally, but something just _clicked_ when she was with him.

Alex's words flashed tauntingly in her head as she stared at her phone. _Would they click this well if she told him everything?_ As her thoughts strayed to her brother, her job, and all the other secrets she was keeping she almost said no.

Her stomach grumbled in protest, reminding her why she was halfway out the door with her purse in hand.

_Lily: Have you ever been to Noonan's?_

It was about halfway between the DEO and Catco, no more than a 10-minute walk either way.

She played around with the phrasing for a minute before realizing she was overdoing it and just hit send. She poked her Hermione bobblehead anxiously as she waited for a reply.

_Winn: A million times. So it's a date?_

_Lily: See you in 10_

Lily headed absently towards the locker room before remembering that she hadn't actually changed into her uniform yet today. Mentally smacking herself, she moved towards the front entrance instead. She paused for a moment as she passed the hub, half of the screens were always devoted to various news channels so they could keep an eye out for alien disasters. One of the headlines jumped out at her, _Supergirl: Hero or Ecoterrorist?_

She couldn't hear what the newscaster was saying, but Lily had to assume the fire at the port hadn't gone well. Lily quickly pinged off a text to Alex. She'd probably already seen the news already, but Lily wanted to make sure she could be moral support for her sister if she needed to be.

She resumed her path to the door, gratefully turning her thoughts toward lunch.

Noonan's was crowded when she arrived after all good food meant a busy lunch rush. Thankfully, Winn had gotten there first and saved her a seat.

"Hi." She greeted as she sat down, still a little awkward. This was the first time she'd seen him since he'd kissed her cheek. "Thanks for getting a table."

He smiled, shrugging. "My friend, Kara, always drags me here so I know the owner." He explained conspiratorily.

Lily laughed, even as a stab of guilt went through her at Kara's name. "Well, since you're the expert, what do you suggest we get?"

Winn adjusted a pair of nonexistent glass and glanced down at the menu. "Wellllll." He drew out the word climactically, "they have very good sandwiches here."

Lily laughed again, it was not the answer she'd been expecting. "Two sandwiches it is."

Their hands lay next to each other on the table as they waited for someone to take their order. Her fingers brushed his lightly, unsure if holding hands was a step too far, but he seemed to get the idea and laced his fingers through hers.

It was a comforting warmth, having his hand pressed against hers as they sat together at the small table.

"How was work today?" She asked gently, trying to keep the calm mood.

He sighed, leaning back a little, but didn't remove his hand from hers. "Stressful."

She squeezed his hand lightly, nodding. "you have no idea." Lily smiled sarcastically, "I was up at the crack on dawn because my boss wanted to get started as soon as possible."

Winn squeezed her hand back in support. "Well, my day beats that—"

The waiter came by then and Winn ordered them two turkey sandwiches.

At the momentary break in the conversation, Lily's gaze wandered around the room, eventually settling on the plasma above the bar. The news-anchor she'd seen earlier was interviewing Maxwell Lord about Supergirl's fumble with the dock fire.

Lily sighed, she knew Maxwell well enough to know that whatever he was saying about Supergirl was for his benefit and no one else's. They'd met on more than one occasion, there'd been a time when he and Lex had been for lack of a better word, close. But when Lex attacked Metropolis, Maxwell had stepped back. Yes, he was self-serving, but not to the point of megalomania.

She shook away the bad memories that threatened to drown her at the sight of his face.

Winn must've noticed where her gaze was because he commented, "they're being too hard on Supergirl. She's new at this."

"Huh," it took a moment for his words to fully register as she shoved the memories back down. "Yeah, she seems like she's really trying."

"Exactly." He clapped his free hand against the table, clearly passionate on his friend's behalf.

Lily giggled, his energy was infectious and it warmed her heart to know how much he cared about his friends.

"Aw. Do you have a crush on Supergirl?" Lily teased lightly even though she knew the real answer.

Winn's cheeks reddened slightly, embarrassed at the insinuation. "No." He mumbled, looking away like a scolded child.

"Good." She squeezed his hand again, "I'd hate to have competition."

Now his cheeks turned really red, and his smile stretched wide, clearly pleased by the statement.

They stayed like that, just smiling and chatting idly until the food arrived.

"Mmm." Lily swallowed her bite before speaking, "that's an exceptional sandwich."

Winn laughed in response, "I told you."

The rest of the meal was spent in satisfied silence as they scarfed their food down.

 _Tell him_ , the thought pinged around her head as she finished her food. This really did seem to be going somewhere, and she couldn't build an entire relationship on a lie.

"Winn." Something in her tone must've been graver than she intended because he looked her in concern when she spoke.

"Is everything okay?" His hand found hers again as he spoke.

"Yeah." She squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I just need to tell you something, can we meet up for dinner tonight?"

"Of course." He still looked worried, but less so than a few moments ago.

She was saved the trouble of coming up with a reply when her phone rang. Alex's name flashed across the screen and she answered the phone hastily.

"Hello?"

Lily had barely gotten the words out when Alex barreled into a response, "there's been a firewall breach. Hank wants you to look into it ASAP."

"The firewall?" She echoed, confused. No one had messed with her firewall in a long time. Winn glanced up at her words, an odd expression on his face.

"Yeah, the system was probably glitching, but you know Hank would never take that chance."

"Ok. I'll be there in a minute." She hung the phone up quickly. Honestly, she was glad to leave, the awkward air that had permeated the room at her words was stifling.

Lily turned to Winn apologetically, "I have to go. There's been an emergency at work."

He nodded, but that odd expression remained. Unease threatened to grow in the pit of her stomach, but she pushed it away.

"I'll see you tonight." She kissed him on the cheek and was gone.

The firewall breach turned out to be much more severe than Alex had said. It took Lily only a few moments to figure out what had been taken, _thankfully nothing_ , but a lot longer to figure out who had gotten in. They'd managed to penetrate the first firewall but had been kicked out by the secondary firewall, meaning that no government secrets had been taken.

It was still alarming that someone had gotten through at all, even if they hadn't been successful in the long run. Someone somewhere had plans that involved the DEO and that couldn't be a good thing...

When Lily was finally able to track the hack she ran the numbers twice just to be sure of what she was seeing.

There had been _two_ hacks. One had piggybacked on the other, so at first glance, it looked like just one. The original hack had a very familiar signature... Suddenly all the pieces clicked together in her head.

_Winn..._

His reaction at the restaurant when she'd mentioned a firewall suddenly made sense and she wanted to bang her head against the keyboard. _It was going so well._

Lily shook the thought away, she had a job to do. After another twenty minutes of staring at the screen and making no progress on the second hack, she knew what she had to do.

It was early afternoon, if she hurried she could still catch Winn at Catco. She didn't really want to do this in a public place, but she knew she couldn't put it off another minute.

She spent the entire walk to Catco mentally playing out the confrontation in her head. _Would he deny it? Would he accuse her right back? Why had he done it?_

Her thoughts kept running in circles as she walked and it was all she could do to keep her face blank. Whether she wanted to scream or yell or cry, she wasn't sure, but if she stopped clenching her jaw her expression might break.

She'd walked to Catco, but when she arrived she was out of breath as though she'd jogged the whole way.

It was only when she saw the security desk in the lobby that she realized she hadn't thought this through. She rubbed her face with her hand before pulling her phone out.

Kara picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Lily. Does the DEO need me?"

Lily shook her head as she spoke even though Kara couldn't see her. "No. I'm in the lobby, can you let me up?"

"Yeah, of course. Is something wrong?"

"No. Yes. It's complicated, I just need to get up there."

"Ok." Kara sounded like she had a million more questions to ask, but for now, she called down to the desk to buzz Lily up.

Lily leaned against the back wall of the elevator as she wondered, not for the first time if this was really the best course of action. But then the doors were opening and Kara was there, and there was nowhere to run.

"What do you need?" Kara asked in place of a greeting.

"I have to see Winn."

Kara blanched at the name, clearly surprised that Lily knew it at all. "How do you know—"

Lily stopped her. "I promise I'll explain, just right now I have to talk to him."

Kara nodded reluctantly, stepping back and allowing Winn's desk into Lily's line of sight.

Lily marched over. " _Winn_."

Winn looked up in surprise, multiple expression flashing across his face. "Hi." He tried a poker face, but he looked scared.

"We need to talk."

Winn nodded gravely, "I suppose we do." He stood up pausing the video game he'd been playing and motioned for her to follow. They ended up in a cramped alcove that Lily suspected was generally used for more _intimate_ things.

"You hacked into a secure government server!" She accused without warning.

"You hacked me first." He shot back just as accusatory.

"I had to see if you were a threat." Winn blanched at the last word, and something in her heart tugged, but she was too mad to listen to it. "You were helping Supergirl and H—my boss wanted to know if we could trust you."

Something clicked behind Winn's eyes and he tossed an accusation at her that she had _not_ been expecting. "When you came to my apartment, that was part of the job too. Was this...?" His voice trailed off as he looked between the two of them and suddenly all her anger was gone.

Lily had been used by too many people not to understand what Winn meant. There was still fire in his eyes but he let her grab his hand as she spoke. "Never. This was all real." His posture relaxed a little, still wary but clearly wanting to believe everything she'd said.

Lily sighed, now was as good a time as any to come clean. "I suppose you want the full story." He nodded once, no less wary. "I work for the DEO. I don't know how much Kara has told you—" his eyebrows shot up, clearly surprised that she knew Kara's identity but he let her continue without comment. "We monitor and police alien activity on earth. I run IT, so it was _my_ firewall you hacked." She couldn't resist being personally offended by that fact. "I was at your apartment that day because I was sent to do a threat assessment of you. It all went out of control from there, I didn't expect to fall for you..." She mumbled the last part quietly.

Winn drew in a long breath before he spoke. "Kara told me about Alex and the DEO," he paused picking his words carefully. "I wasn't going to look into it, but when I saw your trace on my computer I had to do something about it." He rubbed his neck awkwardly, as though it sounded stupid now. "I had no idea it would be you on the other end."

"You're lucky it was," Lily replied, a bit of the fire from earlier returning. "Do you know how much trouble you can get into for hacking an agency that isn't supposed to exist?"

Winn's posture which had relaxed earlier, became standoffish as her words hit the wrong way.

She rubbed her temple gingerly before speaking again. "I'm going to have to explain all this to my boss, but I'll make sure you don't get in trouble."

As the conversation cooled off, Kara appeared nearby and Lily had to resist sighing exasperatedly. "How much of that did you hear?" Kara looked at her and smiled sheepishly. The answer clear on her face, she joined Lily and Winn. Not quite in the alcove because there wasn't room but close enough for a normal conversation.

"How long has this been going on?" Kara asked, trying, and failing, to sound politely curious.

They shared a glance before Winn answered, "a few weeks."

Kara turned to Lily, "and you did a threat assessment of me." Kara didn't sound angry, just disappointed and that was worse because Lily was used to disappointing people.

Lily looked away as she answered, unable to look Kara in the eye. "It was Hank's orders and Alex already punched me for it so maybe don't Kryptonian super punch me—"

Winn turned to Lily, concern on his face. "You said that was a work accident."

"Not exactly, look it's fine I basically invited her to hit me." It was not the first or last time Lily was punched on the job. She tried to get the conversation back on the rails. "I'm sorry I betrayed your trust, both of you." She glanced at Winn and away again, to find him still studying the fading bruise on her cheek. She squeezed the hand she hadn't realized she was still holding.

Kara shook her head. "I trust you and I trust Alex."

Lily smiled at her tentatively.

Winn was studying her like there was more he wanted to say.

Kara seemed to pick up on this as well because she said, "I need to go, Ms. Grant needs another latte."

Winn waited until Kara was out of sight before opening his mouth, he closed it several times before finally mustering the courage to speak. "You did an assessment of me, so that means you know everything about my life and my...my _father._ " His voice trembled on the last word as though it hurt to say.

She nodded, unsure if there was a right thing to say.

"And you still chose to start _this_?"

So many secrets jumbled around in her brain, demanding to be spoken, to be heard, but she swallowed resolutely before speaking. _No one trusts a Luthor._

"Winn." His hand was trembling and she squeezed it gingerly. She placed her other hand on his cheek and his eyes met hers. "You are _not_ your father." His eyes met her, wide and trusting and in pain. She drew him closer to her in the alcove. "Your father left a terrible legacy behind, but you are _not a part of it_. Look at all the good you've done, you're working with Supergirl."

Winn chuckled wryly at the last part, "my dad would hate that."

Lily smiled, sensing that the mood had changed for the better. She hugged him fiercely, and if she felt a few quiet sobs escape him, neither of them mentioned it.

They stayed that way for what felt like a few minutes but could easily have been half an hour. As they broke apart Lily rested her forehead against Winn's for a moment, savoring each other's comforting warmth.

"I should let you get back to work." She spoke eventually. Slowly untangling herself from him.

He grabbed her wrist as she pulled away, "will I still see you tonight?"

Lily shrugged noncommittally, "if you still want to."

In answer, he pressed his lips against hers gently.

"So that's a maybe for tonight," she commented playfully.

He laughed. "Now shoo, I have work to do."

"I would love to but..." Lily gestured to Winn's hand which was still wrapped firmly around her wrist.

"Right, yeah," he withdrew his hand quickly, looking flustered.

Lily was still smiling to herself as she walked away.


	7. Rising Stakes

Lily's work phone rang as she waited on the Catco elevator.

"Larken here."

"Lily, where are you?" It was Alex, sounding worried.

"I was tracing the hack, what happened?" Concern spilled from her as she spoke.

"There's been an attack." Lily's eyes snapped up, finding Winn's across the crowded office, "it looks like another Fort Rozz escapee."

"Where?"

"Plastino Chemicals." Winn moved towards her as Alex spoke, sensing her distress.

"The chemical plant just out of town?" Lily questioned, trying to gather all the details.

"Yes. Get here now. Hank's sending a team to the plant and I want you there with us."

"I'm headed there now," Lily said, hanging up the phone. She jabbed the elevator button again as though maybe it would speed up the process.

By this time both Winn and, surprisingly, Kara has made their way over to her.

"You know those ears of yours are going to get you in trouble one day," Lily commented as Winn wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

Kara shrugged, "Alex called me too. I thought I'd offer you a lift."

Lily nodded, thankfully, flying with Kara would be much faster than waiting on an elevator that felt like it was never coming.

"What happened?" Winn asked as the trio moved to a more secluded corner of the office so Kara could take off without being noticed.

"A Fort Rozz escapee attacked a chemical plant. Hank needs all hands on deck." Lily said, leaning into Winn. It felt nice to be able to tell him the truth.

Lily sent Alex a quick text, that she and Kara would meet her and Hank at the plant. She kissed Winn on the cheek and then Kara whisked them off.

The only people on the scene, when they arrived, were a few stunned security guards. The plant felt dark and eery as they entered, bathed in pale blue light flickering from overhead.

It wasn't hard to find the scene of the attack, the alien had left a _body_ behind, a security guard unfortunate enough to have stumbled across the alien. Lily's stomach churned at the sight and she looked away to avoid losing her lunch. Lily had seen more than her share of corpses in her lifetime, it was something you never got used to. Kara looked squeamish as well. Thankfully they didn't have to try to make conversation after the gruesome sight, because at that moment Hank and Alex appeared around the corner mid-argument.

"—will ask me before contacting any unnecessary assets." Hank was saying.

Alex glared at him as she replied, "all due respect, Sir, but she isn't unnecessary. She might be the only person who can give us firsthand accounts of these species."

"Sir," Lily spoke in greeting, and to alert the other two to her and Kara's presence.

"Larken," Hank made an expression that passed for a smile, but it became a grimace as he turned to Kara. "Ms. Danvers."

" _Supergirl._ " Kara corrected impulsively, before looking away as she turned scarlet. "I mean..." she stuttered, trying to cover her fumble.

"Kara," Alex stepped in hastily, tossing her sister a lifeline. "Take a look around, see if you notice anything."

"Don't touch anything," Hank added as Kara moved away.

He turned to the two of them, "this facility manufactures sodium hypochlorite and ammonium nitrate."

Lily glanced at the other two uneasily, "ingredients for a chemical bomb?"

Alex and Lily began to drift around the room collecting biological samples, as the other agents interview the remaining guards. Kara did a circuit of the room before returning to the body in the center. She looked squeamish but determined.

"What's this?" Alex leaned down closer inspecting the body, and, with a long pair of tweezers, pulled a sharp blade from the guard's chest. But it wasn't like any blade Lily had ever seen before, it was yellowish in color and didn't seem to have a handle.

Lily peered at it as Alex held it up, "it almost looks...organic?" She said the last word uncertainly. It seemed like such an odd observation.

Alex nodded thoughtfully in response, "I think you're right. I'll have to run a few tests on it, but that seems like a logical conclusion."

Alex packed the blade into an evidence bag, and the other agents packed up the scene. It took a few threats and some taxpayer dollars but the security guards agreed not to say anything, both to keep the public from panicking and because the DEO did not _technically_ exist.

They used FBI vans and FBI uniforms, but it was still best to make sure no one said anything. Alex and Lily rode back to the DEO together, looking after their samples to preserve the chain of custody. Kara had left the scene in a hurry to deal with another emergency.

_"I thought maybe I could make everyone forget about the oil spill if I double down on my saves, and well... Winn found a cat up a tree." Kara had flustered on the last few words, clearly embarrassed that she was relegated to getting cats from trees until the public forgave her._

_Lily had laughed, waving her off. "We've got this, go save fluffy."_

_Kara nodded thankfully, said goodbye to Alex, and took off._

They made a beeline for Alex's lab as they got off the transport. Lily had made no progress with identifying the second hacker, and with no other current assignments, she was helping Alex.

The samples were set haphazardly, in no particular order, on one of the empty lab tables (most were buried under piles of used and unused equipment). Lily grabbed the bag containing the dagger and they set to work.

After slipping on pair of blue rubber gloves she carefully extracted the dagger from the bag, wary of its sharp edge. Lily reached for a clean q-tip and gently swabbed the flat part of the blade. She inserted the swab into a machine for analysis and passed the dagger on to Alex, with the comment, "now for the fun part."

Lily winked conspiratorially as she spoke. The waiting was the worst part of the science game, especially for someone who could be as impatient as Lily could. She normally passed the time making conversation with Alex, but no topics came to mind.

"So Winn was the hacker," Alex commented eventually, as she adjusted the focus on her microscope. "Kara told me," she continued as Lily's gazed at her steadily, questioningly.

"Yes." Lily said carefully, "are you going to tell Hank?"

"Are _you_?" Alex tossed the words to her, not accusatory or angry, simply questioning.

"Eventually. I just want to make sure he doesn't get in trouble." Lily shifted from foot to foot, wishing she had something to occupy her mind other than this conversation.

"Yeah..." Alex commented, her focus once again returning to the microscope as she moved to focus on a different part of the blade. "That's odd." She unfocused and refocused the microscope as though it would give her different results the second time around.

"What is it?" Lily moved closer to Alex.

In answer, Alex moved from her seat and motioned for Lily to take a look through the lens. Lily pulled the stool closer to the table and sat down, peering curiously through the microscope.

 _That is odd,_ she thought, echoing Alex's earlier statement. "It looks like a piece of bone," Lily murmured aloud.

"Exactly." Alex was quick to corroborate her findings. "Which begs the question, is it his bone or someone else's? It's an odd material to use for a weapon."

The mass spectrometer Lily had used earlier beeped and printed out a list of results. Lily read it over quickly.

"Well," Lily said waving the paper for emphasis. "According to these results, apart from some human blood, the only thing on the dagger are skin cells that are definitely not human."

"You get this to Hank, I'll call Kara. Maybe she can help us figure out what we're dealing with here." Even as she spoke Alex was pulling out her phone and presumably dialing Kara's number.

Lily grabbed the papers and left for Hank's office.

"Sir," she called apprehensively as she knocked. She didn't even know if he was in there. Sure enough, after a few minutes of no response, she moved on to see if she could locate him elsewhere in the building.

She eventually found Hank in the hub, where he was talking with another agent.

"Sir?" She called uncertainly, not wanting to interrupt anything of vital importance.

Hank looked up once to check who was speaking, nodded to the agent, and made his way towards her.

"Something to report, Larken?"

She nodded, "yes, Sir. Ale—Agent Danvers and I determined that the dagger is organic. It appears to be made of bone."

Hank nodded. "I trust Agent Danvers has notified her sister?"

Lily nodded, looking away, uncertain if she should be ashamed or not.

Hank only nodded again, "we leave for the mountain in five."

"Are you sure, Sir? Would be easier to have Kara—"

Hank held up a hand to silence her, "five minutes."

"Sir." She agreed reluctantly.

She found Alex in her lab. Pouring over one of the blood samples from the scene.

"Doc?" Lily knocked on the door frame to gain her friend's attention.

Alex waved her over without looking up. When she finally did meet Lily's eyes her own were shining with excitement. "I was on the phone with Kara and I had this wonderful idea. So I tested the blood samples from the scene, I thought we could potentially use a blood sample to isolate a weakness."

Lily nodded, "and did you?"

"Not exactly...but I found something arguably more interesting." Alex leaned back in her seat, stretching her back that had been in one position for far too long.

"Are you going to tell me or are you going to make me guess?" To anyone else, Lily might've sounded annoyed, but to Alex, the amusement in her voice rang true. They were in a time crunch, however.

"This alien, whoever they are, isn't carbon-based like we are."

Now Lily's interest was peaked, all of the aliens they'd run across before even with their powers and weaknesses had had relatively similar internal chemistry to humans.

"That's new," Lily commented.

"It's chlorine-based," Alex finished her thought.

Suddenly a light bulb went off in Lily's head and all the pieces snapped into place. "Where is the—aha" Lily cut herself off as she found the paper she was looking for. A list of the chemicals housed at Plastino. She ran a finger down the list, murmuring as she went, "carbon...nitrogen...chlorine." She thrust the list at Alex, pointing to one item in particular. "Here, DDT. It's mostly chlorine."

"Of course," Alex latched onto Lily's train of thought. "He's not building a bomb, he's...eating." Even though that was almost certainly the answer, it was still _odd_ to say.

"Larken, Danvers." Hank's shout rang through the lab, reminding Lily why she was there in the first place.

"Hank wants us to go to the mountain to meet Kara."

Alex looked annoyed by the continued subterfuge but nodded obediently.

"Well, we shouldn't keep the warden waiting." Alex used Lily's nickname for Hank with a wry smile, a small act of revenge for having to lie to her sister once more.

Lily smiled, a little sadly perhaps, at how the lies seemed to be piling up in both of their lives, but a smile nonetheless. It had all seemed so much easier a few hours ago when she'd been telling Winn about the DEO and it felt like there weren't any more secrets, but of course, there were still secrets. _There would always be secrets._

Lily was finally pulled out of her head as they met Hank in the garage for transport to the mountain. She and Alex briefed him on their most recent discovery as the van moved over a seemingly endless stream of potholes.

Lily gritted her teeth as the vehicle lurched once more, wishing she could just fly to the mountain like Kara. The ride passed in silence after they briefed Hank. The road to the mountain was tedious at best, and the icy tension between Alex and Hank was suffocating.

Lily breathed deeply, and perhaps a little melodramatically, as they reached the mountain. She was just glad to be out of that car.

Kara was near the computer banks when they arrived. Bouncing a little in her heels, as she waited expectantly.

"Alex," Kara chose to ignore Hank in favor of addressing her sister. "I just remembered, my mom—on Krypton." Kara's words tumbled together as she tried to explain her thought process. Finally, she just came right out with it, "I think I know what alien you're looking for."

If Hank's eyebrows had gone any higher, they'd have leaped clean off his face. He coughed in disbelief, still not entirely convinced that Kara needed to be here at all.

"They're called Hellgrammites."

Lily moved to the computer to scan the Fort Rozz roster for the species Kara had indicated. One hit.

"According to the Fort Rozz roster, there was a Hellgrammite prisoner onboard."

Hank nodded, the fact that the computer corroborated Kara's story was definitely a step in the right direction, in terms of proving Kara's usefulness to him.

Growing more confident in her story, Kara began to explain the little she knew about the species. "They're insect-like creatures, but they can camouflage themselves into any shape. Human included. And they can grow blades made of bone out of their wrists."

Lily pulled up a photo from the archives for reference. She resisted the urge to cringe at the image, bugs really weren't her thing.

Lily moved back to stand by Alex as Kara pestered Hank about being allowed into the field.

"You couldn't have defeated Vartox without me."

"That could've been a fluke, you're not going back into the field until we've finished assessing your abilities." Hank was stubborn and set in his ways, this was a fight Kara was unlikely to win.

"I broke the sound barrier, I can dodge missiles. What more do you need to know?"

"Too much brawn and not enough brains, Ms. Danvers."

Kara looked dejected. She clearly wanted to help, she was just still learning on the _how._

"Agent Danvers." Hank nodded to Alex, this appeared to be some sort of pre-arranged signal because Alex led Kara towards the training rooms.

"Sir," Lily stepped up beside Hank as the other two left. "What is Alex going to do?"

"Like I said earlier, Agent Larken." Hank explained, "Ms. Danvers relies too much on her superior strength. She needs more than simply punching until someone falls over."

Lily didn't like it but she knew Hank was right. Still, as she glanced towards the training room, she had a sinking feeling that this wouldn't go well.

"Sir, could I take the rest of the evening off?" Lily asked apprehensively. Tracking the Hellgrammite could easily run late into the night and she didn't want to be late to meet Winn.

Hank raised an eyebrow, Lily didn't generally have much of a personal life beyond Alex and rarely took time off.

"I have a personal engagement, Sir." She continued, feeling like a teenager who'd been caught breaking curfew.

Hank waved her off, with an almost smile. "It's good to take time off once in a while."

Lily sighed as she took a transport back to the city if only Hank could be that understanding with Kara.

The walk from the DEO to her apartment was frigid. A cold front had swept in during the day, and now, as dusk was descending, it only got colder. Lily wrapped her jacket tighter around herself as a particularly strong gust tossed her hair into a tangled mess.

She was grateful to finally mount the stairs to her apartment, and even more grateful to shut the apartment door behind her. She kept her coat on for a few minutes as she let herself warm up.

Lily had just curled up on the couch under a blanket, with a book and a nice hot cup of cocoa, when the doorbell rang.

"Coming," she called, untangling herself from the blanket. She was greeted with a familiar mess of dark hair wearing a cardigan. "Winn," she murmured, surprised.

"We didn't exactly pick a time tonight, and I didn't want to be late..." his voice trailed away into embarrassed silence.

She waved him inside with a smile, opening the door a little further.

"It's a little early for dinner, how about a movie?" Lily moved to the couch as she spoke, folding the blanket and putting the book on the coffee table.

Winn nodded, looking adorably awkward as he also moved towards the couch. "A movie sounds nice."

Lily bent down to grab the box of movies she kept under the coffee table. She passed it to Winn, "take your pick."

Winn thumbed through the movies for a minute before looking at her with a playful smile. "I can't believe you don't have the second Star Wars trilogy."

She shoved him lightly, "I only keep good movies in that box."

"Really," Winn commented, holding up a copy of _Titanic._

"It's a guilty pleasure," she muttered snatching the disk from him and holding it to her chest.

Winn laughed, "I hope this doesn't mean I'm competing with Leonardo Decaprio."

"More like Kate Winslet." She said with a wink.

"Wha—uh," Winn stammered, unsure how to respond to that.

"Relax, hot Schott. I'm kidding." He laughed with her now, his cheeks still partially flushed in embarrassment but there was a light twinkle in his eye that warmed her heart.

"This?" He asked, pulling _The Princess Bride_ out of the box.

"That's perfect," Lily smiled at a movie that had defined most of her childhood. The case was wrinkled and smashed in many places from being dropped one too many times over the years. It was a well-loved case, never sitting in the box long enough to collect dust. "'You seem a decent fellow, I hate to kill you.'" She quoted as she placed the DVD in the player.

Winn finished the quote without a moment's hesitation. "'You seem a decent fellow, I hate to die.'"

She cuddled into his side as the movie began to play, and they relaxed into the couch. As the credits scrolled by and the grandpa began to read the story, Winn yawned, stretching and casually wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Lily had to stifle a giggle, it was such a teenage boy move to make, but she still found it adorable. It was warm and comfortable, pressed next to him, that she felt herself beginning to drift off. The day had been stressful and it was nice to finally relax. She fell asleep to the sound of clashing swords as Inigo and Westley fought near the Cliffs of Insanity.

"Lily."

"Shh," she nuzzled closer to the warmth, trying to drift back to sleep. The warmth chuckled, the sound vibrating the surface, making it hard to sleep. "Hmm." Lily hummed finally stretching and moving away from the warmth.

The warmth turned out to be Winn.

"Hi," he chuckled again as she rubbed her eyes and blinked up at him.

She glanced at the screen to the closing credits scrolling, "did I miss the whole movie?"

"Yeah, how tired were you? Or was the movie just that boring?"

She held a hand to her heart, wounded. "First of all, that—" she gestured to the TV "—is one of the greatest movies of all time. I just, work was...a lot today." She stumbled to find the right words. Sure they'd cleared the air about the DEO, but didn't mean he was ready for her to just unload on him.

He rubbed a comforting hand on her arm, "do you want to talk about it?"

She shrugged, "I mean, if you're sure you won't run screaming."

"If I can handle Kara, I can handle this." He smiled at her sweetly, gently trying to lighten the mood.

"There was a body," she started slowly, unpacking the worst part of the story first. "It's not the first one I've seen, but it just reminded me how high the stakes are in this job. What's on the line if I mess up."

He cupped her cheek tenderly, "you're going to mess up, and that's okay. Because it's not just you, it's a team. It's you, and Alex, and Hank, and all the other agents. You catch their mistakes and _they catch yours_. And it isn't just them, I'm here too. If you need me."

"Thank you," she spoke softly as her eyes began to water. Both from all of her fears and from Winn's heartfelt support.

He simply smiled at her again, there wasn't anything else that needed to be said.

_Grumble._

Lily's stomach grumbled loudly.

"Maybe we should finally make dinner," Winn suggested lightly.

This second foray into the kitchen went considerably better than the first. Lily now knew well enough to keep Winn away from anything that he might accidentally set on fire.

She sent him to the opposite side of the kitchen to chop vegetable while she flipped on a burner and got to work.

All in all, the stir-fry came together quickly and nicely. They had one near miss when Winn tried to add the veggies to the pot and dropped a few of them into the fire instead, causing the flames to lick up dangerously for a moment before burning back down.

After that Lily ordered him to sit on the kitchen stool and stay there until she was finished. He pouted, but listened. Making a much conversation partner than chef.

Talking and chatting idly made the time go by in a flash, and in seemingly no time at all she was dishing the food onto plates while Winn set the table.

She asked him about his day as they sat down to eat.

"Well," he started. "I didn't actually do much work after you left. We had this great idea to help fix Kara's reputation."

"Yeah, fluffy the cat." Lily remembered the name of the cat that Winn had called Kara away to rescue.

Winn made a face at her words, halfway between a laugh and a grimace. "Fluffy the _snake._ "

Lily laughed, "who names their snake _fluffy_?"

"Exactly, that's what I said." Winn spoke, clearly pleased that someone agreed with him. "Thankfully, the rest of it went better than that. Kara will be the public's sweetheart again in no time."

It was nice how easily they slipped into conversation about Kara and the DEO. It quieted a nagging fear in the back of her head that all the secrets coming undone would be too much for him.

She smiled at him gently as he continued to speak about various people and things that Kara had saved over the course of the afternoon.

"What?" Winn asked and Lily realized that she'd been caught staring.

"Uh," she reddened slightly. The explanation sticking in her throat. "I'm just happy that all of this worked out."

"Me too," Winn reached across the small table to grasp her hand.

The words she wanted to say next were no less hard to get out. She opened her mouth twice before finally speaking. "Do you want to make it official?"

Winn looked surprised, pleased but very surprised. "Definitely."


	8. Kidnapping and Unwelcome Family

Lily was tapped out after a nice evening of food and conversation. Winn had lingered after dinner, chatting idly as they migrated once again to the couch. They leaned back, relaxed, and full of good food.

"Maybe next time we can actually watch a movie together," Lily commented with a light chuckle.

"I'd like that," Winn smiled. "And as much as I'd love to continue this conversation, I need to get home." He spoke with purpose, but it was still another five minutes before he made any move to get off the couch.

"Bye," he turned to her one last time. Fully kissing her on the lips before getting up.

She was left warm and buzzing as he stood to grab his coat.

She stood up behind him and as he turned around pecked him on the lips with the comment, "one for the road, hot Schott," and a wink.

They were both smiling widely, a blush dusting their cheeks, when Lily finally closed the door behind him.

She stretched, yawning, and tidied up a little as she moved to the bedroom. She moved the dishes from the sink to the washer and put the wine back in the cabinet. She smiled gently as she placed the _Princess Bride_ disk back into the case and into the box. She was vividly reminded of the day she'd gotten it.

_"No, no, no." Lex had chastised, "that move leaves your king completely unprotected." He indicated several possible points of attack along the chessboard. He placed the knight back where it had been, "try again."_

_"Lex," Lily had whined to the 14-year-old. "I don't even like chess."_

_But Lex had simply shaken his head and explained that chess would "teach her important life skills."_

_She made a face at his words, "if life is all about chess then I really don't want it."_

_Kiera had rolled her eyes and butted in from the chair she sat on nearby, "don't be absurd. Chess is the 'game of kings and strategists'"_

_Kiera quoted Lex effortlessly and he threw a captured pawn at her in retaliation. "One day, chess will save your life," he said wisely, but even he couldn't keep a straight face for long and burst out laughing with the other two._

_Lionel walked in as they were laughing and smiled at the three before chiding in a very unconvincing tone that "Luthor children ought to be more disciplined." The effect was greatly ruined by his producing a movie from his coat moments later._

_Two pairs of grabby hands reached for it instantly, Lex held back. At 14, he was working hard to prove himself a worth successor of the Luthor name, but Kiera, 13, and Lily, 11, had no such worries._

_They held the movie up between them as Lionel scolded a bit more seriously this time about politeness and manners._

_A fairytale cover of a kissing man and woman stared up at Lily and Kiera. 'The Princess Bride' was spelled in cursive just above the heads of the embracing figures._

Lily had been just as captivated watching the movie for the first time then as she had been every other she watched it. The story had come to occupy a special place in her heart, when she was younger she'd hoped for a dashing young pirate to sweep her off her feet and take her on a grand adventure.

Then she'd grown up to realize that nothing quite so fanciful as that actually happened in the world. But now, aliens and Winn...

The world certainly was more fanciful than her learned cynical nature ever had her inclined to believe. _Maybe Winn could be my Westley,_ she thought to herself wistfully as she folded another blanket.

Finally, she retreated to the bedroom, too tired to worry any longer.

Morning came reasonably bright and early the next day. No 2 AM phone calls, no DEO training at 6 in the morning. She rolled out of bed at 7:30 and stretched lazily, enjoying the fact that she was able to get up at her normal hour. She moved slowly through the apartment to the kitchen, making a beeline for her coffee maker.

A knock at the door made her pause, she moved towards it, unsure who would be calling this early on a workday.

Upon opening the door she found no one there, just a plain envelope on the floor. She grabbed the letter and closed the door, feeling wary.

There was no return address simply just her name in elegant cursive script. _Liliana Luthor._

The sight of her real name made Lily shudder. There were only a few people who could've sent this. She opened the letter and found the same elegant script.

_"There is nothing impossible to him who will try."_

_Nos postulo disputatio_

The letter was not signed but she had no doubt who it was from, _Lex._ The quote was one attributed to Lex's namesake, Alexander the Great. Though the Latin was a bit more cryptic, she had no trouble deciphering it. In the Luthor house, you learned Latin practically before you learned English.

The words translated simply: _we need to talk._

She crumpled the letter up and threw it in the trash as she moved back to the kitchen. Lily had no intention of talking to Lex about anything. No, he'd lost that privilege when he'd tied her to a chair and forced her to watch as he destroyed their city.

She grabbed her cup absently from the coffee maker and it was only when the hot liquid burned her throat that she realized she hadn't given it enough time to cool.

She tried to shake away the cold chill that the letter left in her, even imprisoned for life Lex still had reach and allies.

Lily forced herself not to worry, he said he wanted to talk. He wouldn't do anything worse for the time being.

She moved through her morning robotically and didn't really come to again until she stood in the DEO locker room and realized that she was trying to stick her head through the sleeve of her uniform.

She gave her head a hard shaking forcing herself back to Earth. She grasped the necklace that hung around her neck reassuringly. That little piece of her father always brought her comfort. The one man she'd always been able to count on...

Lily took a sip of her no longer scalding coffee as she moved her way through the halls of the DEO towards her office. She purposely passed by where she usually turned toward Alex's lab.

Alex would see right through her brace face and she wasn't ready to dig out her skeletons again. Unfortunately for Lily, Alex always seemed to have a sixth sense for when she was being avoided and it didn't take long for her to show up in Lily's office.

"Knock, knock," Alex called entering the room, the door had been slightly ajar so she didn't bother with the psychical action of knocking.

"Hey, Doc." Lily tried to make her tone more jaunty than she felt.

"Hey, Lily. Hank and I were just going over—" Alex paused, frowning. Something on Lily's face had clearly given her away. "You ok?"

Lily played at a smile but it ended up more like a grimace as she spoke, "I'm fine."

Alex frowned, but years of being Lily's friend had taught her when not to push. There were some skeletons in her closet that should never see the light of day again.

Alex sighed before speaking. "When you're ready to talk about it, I'm here."

Lily nodded, the growing lump in her throat preventing her from speaking. She swallowed hoarsely a few times, trying to ensure that her voice was steady when she spoke. "You mentioned Hank?" Lily prompted cautiously, not fully sure if Alex would let the subject drop.

"We've been looking into DDT. Trying to get an idea where the Hellgrammite will strike next."

"I'm guessing you found something interesting if you came to me."

"Yeah. There are only a couple of places that still supply it. The government is phasing it out so his food supply is running out."

Lily nodded, latching on to Alex's train of thought, "and a starving person is a dangerous person no matter what species they're from."

"Exactly." Alex held up her hands for emphasis, pleased that she and Lily were effortlessly on the same page.

"I have an idea," Lily was already reaching for the laptop she kept in her drawer. She snapped it open as she stood up. Alex leaned forward questioningly trying to figure out what Lily was doing as her fingers flew across the keyboard. "Here," Lily held the back of the laptop to her chest as she spun it to face Alex.

Lily pointed to a spot on the screen as she spoke. "There's only one place left in National City that still has DDT in storage. Ramona Demolitions."

"All we have to do is transport the DDT, he won't be able to resist the bait."

"Yes." Lily exclaimed in glee as Alex finished her own thought to a 'T'. Lily pointed to the door quickly, "you talk to Hank and I'll sort the rest out."

Alex nodded, already moving out the door.

Lily allowed herself a quick breather, pleased to have anything else to focus on before she dived into work once again. Getting access to the DDT was easy, the company was more than willing to cooperate with the _FBI_. All they needed now was Hank's ok to use one of the vans.

Lily closed the laptop and tucked it under her arm. She moved down the hall toward the hub. She found Alex and Hank in a discussion about their plan. Alex was waving her hands a lot as Hank nodded enthusiastically.

"Good work, Larken." He called as Lily made her way to where they stood.

"Thank you, sir." Lily fiddled with the laptop absently as she spoke again, "the DDT is on standby at Ramona. All we need is an FBI van to carry it."

Hank nodded again, "your plan is sound. I want each of you in one of the vehicles shadowing the transport vehicle. I'll monitor from here."

They both nodded, never questioning an order.

"As you were. We'll put the pieces in motion and move out in the afternoon. Relax for a couple of hours and get your heads in the game."

"Sir." They spoke together and headed to Alex's lab.

"We're getting lunch," Alex announced after grabbing her bag from one of the lab tables.

"It's ten o'clock." Lily protested weakly as Alex's dragged her toward the locker room.

"Then it's brunch, come on."

Lily sighed and allowed herself to be dragged, there was no point in fighting Alex when she got like this.

They arrived at a restaurant Lily has never been to before. The sign above the door proclaimed: _Dan's Munchies._

"Kara got takeout here the other day," Alex explained.

Lily nodded slowly, "that still doesn't explain why we're here."

"Your head is not in the game. So we're going to have a nice lunch and see if you can't get your head on straight."

Lily opened her mouth to argue, but Alex cut her off.

"Hey, I'm not mad or anything. I just want to make sure you're ok, and now we have a bit of a timetable."

Lily followed Alex into the building. They found seats quickly as the building was only half full.

"So how are things with Winn?" Alex prodded gently.

They paused the conversation for a minute as the waiter arrived with water and salad appetizers.

Lily allowed a genuine smile to creep across her face, "they're good. Especially now that he knows about our day job. It makes things a lot easier."

"Good." Alex nodded thoughtfully, "is he just as cute after three dates?"

"Four." Lily's cheeks turned pink. Alex was one of the most supportive people in her life, but she still teased like an overeager schoolchild sometimes.

"That many?" Alex raised her eyebrows suggestively. "Things must be going really well then."

Lily threw a crouton at her. "Not like that. We just talk and cook, well," she amended quickly. "I cook, he nearly burned down the kitchen the last time I let him near the stove."

"He sounds as bad as me."

Lily laughed, shaking her head, "I don't think he's that bad. I haven't had to call the fire department yet."

"In my defense, the pizza box didn't explicitly say to remove the cardboard."

"And I'm sure they changed that just for you." Lily said through her laughter.

Alex returned fire with another crouton.

"Hey." The indigence in Lily's voice was half-hearted and soon they were both laughing jovially. "Don't worry. You have plenty of great qualities that make up for this _glaring personality flaw._ "

The next crouton hit Lily square on the nose. The conversation continued to flow amicably as they placed their orders and the food came.

"Mmm." Lily commented as she took a bite of her sandwich, "Kara always picks the best places."

Alex nodded appreciatively, "the only problem is that every time she comes home with new takeout, I find another restaurant to blow my money at."

"Well if she eats you out of house and home, you're always welcome to my couch." Lily spread her arms in a grandiose gesture.

"Thanks." Replied Alex, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I think I'm good."

"Are you sure?" Lily asked with an exaggerated look on her face, as though she were thinking very hard. "I could give it the deluxe treatment, I'd even vacuum it and everything."

Alex rolled her eyes, changing the subject. "Did you look at the dessert menu yet?"

All in all, that was a fair move on Alex's part. Once Lily got hold of a joke she tended to milk it till it was dead.

"Fine." She relented, playing at annoyance as she scanned the menu.

"The cheesecake looks good," Alex commented, clearly thinking that Lily was taking too long.

A chill ran down Lily's spine. Ordinarily, she loved cheesecake, it was a favorite of hers as a kid. Unfortunately, it was also her brother's favorite. Normally, that wouldn't have bothered her, but after the letter she'd received she was loathe to go near anything that reminded her of him.

"No thanks," Lily managed, hating the way her voice went up an octave.

Alex looked at her strangely, she was no fool after all. "Ok, what's up?" She folded her menu and set it next to her to look Lily square in the eye. "You never turn down cheesecake."

Lily shrugged, "just not in the mood today."

"Bull."

"Alex—" Lily began warningly.

"You're clearly not here today. I can't risk you in the field without a clear head, so unless you can tell me, you're benched for tonight."

Lily bit her cheek to keep back an angry retort. She hated that Alex trusted her a little less, but escalating the argument wouldn't do either of them any good. "Ok." Lily kept her voice even, unconsciously slipping back into old habits. _Chin up. Stiff lip. Don't give away any sign of weakness_.

They didn't speak again as they paid the bill and walked back to the DEO.

Alex immediately walked toward Hank as they entered the building, and Lily caught the beginning of their conversation as she passed on the way to her office.

"Sir, can I talk to you? It's about the mission tonight—"

Lily hurried into the office, not wanting to hear Alex tell Hank all about how she wasn't coping.

She sinks into the chair in her office, idly searching for something to take her mind off of her recent conversation. There are a few jobs in her queue, but nothing that needs to be finished immediately. She typed out _and deleted_ three messages to Winn, all varying degrees of ranting and exposing emotional skeletons from her childhood. If she couldn't tell Alex, she certainly couldn't tell Winn, they just weren't there yet.

Her phone beeped with a text from Winn.

_Winn: Thinking of you._

_Wait. Did that sound creepy?_

_I promise you don't need a restraining order._

_Let me start over._

Lily laughed to herself as Winn's awkwardness shone through clear as day. She shook her head as she typed back a response.

_Lily: I'm thinking of you too._

_Though not for the reasons you'd hope,_ Lily thought sarcastically. She rubbed a hand across her face, the spell that had fallen over her when Winn texted, broken. She set the phone down, maybe working through some of those minor jobs wasn't such a bad idea.

Lily's phone buzzed again.

_Winn: How's work?_

Lily rolled her eyes and picked up her phone again, a smile spreading across her face without permission. It was always nice to know someone cared, even if it was about something so minor. She sat there for a minute contemplating whether or not to tell him how her day had really gone. A small part of her, the part that's been crushed and hidden by a challenging childhood wants to break down and tell him everything: Lex's letter, Alex's distrust. But even as her fingers hovered over the keys she couldn't do it, it felt too much like weakness.

_Lily: Boring._

_Winn: That sounds like work._

Lily wondered absently if that response felt just as awkward for him to type as it did for her to read.

_Lily: Speaking of, don't you have work right now?_

She could almost imagine him blushing and stammering an awkward response as the typing bubble popped up.

_Winn: Yes, but I finished already._

Lily glanced at the stack of unfinished paperwork on her desk which suddenly loomed larger than life.

_Lily: Yeah, me not so much._

She set her phone down, biting her lip as she pulled the top few papers off the stack and set them in front of her.

The clock ticked the minutes away as Lily's pen scratched across the page. She set her pen down for a moment, clenching and unclenching her hand, trying to get the feeling back into it. _Why couldn't we have digitized these?_

Lily leaned back in her chair, stretching and attempting to relax even a little. She winced as her back popped loudly, she really needed a new chair. Lily glanced at the clock, a quarter to five. She'd been working for hours, no wonder her hand felt dead. Her stomach rumbled loudly, clearly not pleased with the long hours either.

Lily stood, stretching a bit more. A quick trip to the vending machine couldn't hurt, could it?

Five minutes later, Lily was back at her desk. The feeling had mostly returned to her legs and she was contentedly munching on a bag of trail mix. Bored, but not wanting to resume paperwork just yet, Lily flicked a raisin across her desk. She watched with satisfaction as it landed in the trash can on the other side of her desk.

Lily was startled by a hesitant knock at her door. The only person who ever knocked on her door was Alex, and Alex didn't appear to be in the mood to talk to Lily.

"Come in?" She called out, uncertainly.

She was surprised when Hank opened the door.

"Sir." She acknowledged respectfully, trying to nonchalantly sweep the pile of raisins from her desk. "I didn't know—is this about the mission?"

Hank shook his head, looking toward the couch on the far end of the room. "May I sit?"

"Uh, sure." Lily still wasn't sure what to make of Hank's presence in her office.

"At ease, agent." Hank said, clearly noticing her stiff posture, "you haven't done anything wrong." He paused a moment before continuing, "I'm worried about you."

Lily sagged in her chair, switching out of work mode. Hank had been like a father to her ever since she'd joined the DEO and it was hard not to immediately give in and spill everything. "I'm fine, just a bad morning." That was one way to describe finding a letter from your megalomaniac brother on your doorstep.

Hank's eyes narrowed slightly and for just a moment Lily had the distinct impression that he knew exactly what she was thinking. "We've all had bad mornings. Alex would never take you off of the mission because of a bad morning." The fact that Hank used Alex's actual name was Lily's second clue that he was in dad mode rather than boss mode. "What's really going on?"

Lily looked away, she couldn't lie to him head-on. "It's personal, _sir._ " She stressed the final word, trying to make it clear that she didn't need or want a dad right now. "But I'll handle it."

Hank sighed, clearly sensing defeat and let the topic drop. "You know where to find me if you need me." He paused in the doorway and turned back to her. "I'll need you in the hub monitoring the mission. If anything goes wrong you call in the cavalry, we can't have the Hellgrammite wreaking havoc on National City."

Lily nodded, "understood, sir."

Lily's time in the hub was always nail-biting, but this was worse. Sitting and watching, and _worrying_ about everything that could go wrong was exhausting. There were four vans in all, each housing about three agents. The DDT itself was with Hank and Alex.

"Alpha. Checking in."

"Beta. Checking in."

"Gamma. Checking in."

Lily nodded, checking off each of the vehicles in turn as they got into position. She tapped her headset as a bout of static came over the comms. "Omega, are you in position?" The comms fritzed a little longer, and a feeling like dread shot through Lily.

"This is Omega in position." Alex's voice came over the comms clear and focused.

"Roger that Omega," Lily responded. "All teams in position. Any sighting of the Hellgrammite should be reported directly to the hub."

All four vehicles rogered an affirmative. Now it was a waiting game. Lily had no doubt the Hellgrammite would show, they'd gathered up the last of his food source after all, but they had no idea _when_ he would appear.

"Alpha reporting an 'all clear'."

Lily had them reporting in every 15 minutes so they could make sure the Hellgrammite didn't slip in undetected. They had been doing this for about an hour and nothing had happened yet.

"Beta?" Lily prompted, Sloan had a habit of nodding off on stakeouts so she wasn't entirely surprised when his team didn't respond right away. "Sloan, wake up!"

A laugh came over the comms and Lily rolled her eyes, having no trouble identifying the voice. "Peters, is Gamma still awake over there?"

"Yes, sir." Peters responded, still chortling.

"Oh fuck off, Peters." Sloan snapped as the snoring finally stopped.

Lily sighed. _I work with children._ "Sloan, is everything all-clear for Beta?"

"Yes, sir. It's quiet as a mouse over here."

Peters snorted, "so was it a mouse we heard snoring over the comms?"

"Do you want a fight, Peters? Cause I'll take you right now." Sloan was clearly cranky, and, as usual, Peters' abrasive personality wasn't helping matters.

"Enough." Hank's voice came over the comms, clearly frustrated with the childlike behavior of his employees. "Both of you stop it, or I'll have you up to your eyes in paperwork for the next month."

Thankfully, they shut up immediately.

"Thank you." Hank paused, "Omega reporting an 'all clear'."

"Thank you, sir."

_Crash._

The noise reverberated through the comms so loudly that Lily had to pull her headset away from her ear for a moment. Panic threatened to overwhelm her, but she shoved it down and locked it in a box for the time being. Allowing herself to panic would help nothing.

"All units respond. I need confirmation of an attack." Lily swallowed the lump in her throat as her breath hitched. "Alpha? Beta? Gamma?"

There were was a groan and then, "this is alpha. We're ok, just a little banged up."

"What happened Alpha?"

The response was slow and a tad slurred, "Hellgrammite came out of nowhere. Shoved our van into a tree and took off after Omega."

Lily nodded, pulling up Alpha's location on a map. She pulled the mic away from her mouth and called out to the room at large. "I need a med unit on Remington Street, near the plaza."

"Roger that, sir." Piper responded gathering a few agents and heading for the garage.

Next, she frantically looked for Omega on the map, but their tracker seemed to be inactive.

"Alpha, I have a med unit headed your way. Do you still have eyes on Omega?"

"Negative, sir. We lost sight of them after we crashed."

The panic was returning and it was getting harder for Lily to keep it at bay. The horribly mutilated plant security guard kept flashing in her mind, only now he had Alex's face.

"Omega, are you all right? Omega please respond?"

Static.

"Beta? Gamma? Does anyone have eyes on the Hellgrammite?"

Gradually as injuries were assessed and a few minutes passed Beta and Gamma managed to check-in. Beta had been rendered unconscious, like Alpha, but Gamma had simply had its comms damaged when their van flipped. Gamma had been thankfully uninjured and had managed to treck over to Beta and use their radio to check in.

Still, there had been no response from Omega and it was all Lily could do to keep a cool head and not let the panic show. After Alex and Hank, she was the senior agent. She couldn't afford to lose face in the middle of a crisis.

A pierce of static rang through the comms and then, "Larken." The voice sounded a little worse for wear, but it was undeniably Hank.

"Hank?!" Lily breathed a sigh of relief even as she barraged him with questions. "What happened? Is Alex ok?"

"The Hellgrammite ripped the roof off of our van and grabbed Alex."

 _No. That didn't make sense, the Hellgrammite would've naturally gone for his food source. There was no reason he should've taken Alex._ "What about the DDT?"

She could almost picture Hank shaking his head as he spoke, "all the DDT is still here."

The rest of the evening's events blurred together, she was barely aware of calling for a med unit to assist Hank. In one last moment of strength, shoving down the overwhelming tides of panic. She snapped open her phone.

"Kara. Something happened to Alex." 


	9. Fallout And Painful Memories

Winn Schott sighed as he finished typing the system diagnostic report. One more idiot who had managed to break his computer because he clicked on some 'get rich quick' email. If he had a dollar for every time he'd had to deal with one of these, he'd be richer than Cat Grant.

He stood, stretching slightly and grabbed his bag off of the ground beside him, it was later than he usually left work and he couldn't wait to get home. His phone rang as he moved towards the elevator and he groaned. It was probably Kara asking to do another super friends' adventure, he loved doing those with her but right now he just wanted to sleep. _Who knew being best friends with a superhero could be so much work?_

"Hello?" Winn answered without bothering to check the caller ID.

"Who are you?" The voice on the other end of the line is male and mildly annoyed.

"You're the one calling me." Winn really isn't in the mood for whatever telemarketer/phone scam this is.

"Look man, all I know is some girl tried to call you, but she's way too drunk to get her phone to work."

Suddenly, all of the pieces fall into place and Winn finally looks at the caller ID. _Lily Larken._ "Where are you?"

"Five by Six."

Winn took a breath, gathering himself, "ok. I'll be there in a few minutes."

The bar was about half-full as Winn entered, most people didn't have a reason to drink at 7:30 on a weekday. The lights were low and flickering in that way that bar lights always seemed to be, but Winn spotted Lily immediately. She sat at the bar, chin resting on the wood counter as she traced a tired finger around the rim of her cup.

The bartender next to her spotted his gaze and waved him over, "you must be the boyfriend."

"Are you the one who called me?" Winn asked as he moved over, making sure he wasn't misreading the situation.

"Yup." He slid Lily's phone across the counter to Winn, "I'd keep an eye on that. She tried to throw it a few minutes ago."

Winn nodded as he moved closer to his girlfriend. She hadn't seemed to notice him yet, too consumed with her cup to pay much attention to her surroundings.

"Lily?" He said cautiously, trying to gauge how drunk she was.

"Winn." She exclaimed in delight, standing up and throwing her arms around his shoulders. "I wanted to call you, but the button kept moving." She giggled.

Winn breathed a sigh of relief that she was clearly a bubbly drunk. He removed her arms from around his shoulders carefully, the smell of alcohol on her breath reminding him of times he'd rather forget. "Are you ok?"

She nodded, giggling again, and now that she'd looked at him head-on Winn could see that she'd been crying.

"What happened?" He asked softly, terrified of sparking a drunken rage. He brushed a hand against her cheek softly and he could see her eyes start to glisten.

She just shook her head and turned back to the bartender. "More beer," she exclaimed gleefully.

The bartender glanced at Winn over Lily's shoulder and he shook his head and mouthed _'water'._ The bartender nodded and moved away.

Winn reached out to Lily, gently placing an arm on her shoulder. "What happened?"

Then she broke down, falling against him in a mess of uncontrollable sobs and hysterical laughter. "She's gone and its all my fault."

Winn wrapped his arms around her, petting one hand through her hair gently. Knowing what little he did about her job at the DEO, he was burning to ask her her ' _who?_ ' but he knew that had to wait. "Shh." He murmured gently as he eased them down onto one of the bar stools.

"All my fault," Lily muttered into his neck. "Just like Kiera and Lex."

That statement raised a million more questions, but he just continued to run one hand gently through her hair. "It's ok."

"NO." Lily ripped away from him harshly, her words slurred as she yelled. "Don't you get it," she staggers dangerously, tripping over her feet and her words. "She didn't let me go with her tonight because of that stupid letter. It should've been me." The few other patrons in the bar had begun to stare, this was probably the most entertaining thing they'd seen all day.

Winn flinched away instinctively, struggling to see his girlfriend and not the foster father who enjoyed using him as a punching bag when he'd had one too many drinks. "Hey," he reached out a hand placatingly, ignoring the way it shook slightly. She let him take her hand as he gently tugged her back down onto a stool.

All of the fight seemed to drain out of her as she sat down, it was heartbreaking to see, but Winn supposed (hoped) it had more to do with the large amount of alcohol she'd ingested rather than any real emotional defeat. "Can I take you home?" He offered gently, the best way to get through was for her to sleep it off and then confront whatever this was head-on and _sober_.

She nodded numbly. Winn paid her bill quickly and then gently guided her out of the bar.

"Winn." She murmured, face half-buried in his shoulder. "I don't want to go home." Her drunken slur could almost be passed off as sleep deprivation now except for the faint whiff of alcohol still lingering on her breath. Winn turned his head to the side, not wanting to inhale any more of the scent than he had to.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked patiently, it probably wasn't best to leave her alone right now anyway.

She looked up at him then, pleadingly, her eyes sad, and he knew he couldn't say no. "Your place."

"Ok."

Winn flicked the light on in his apartment as he guided Lily inside. She tripped on the lip of the doorframe and Winn steadied her carefully. She looked ready to pass out so he forestalled more talk until she's sober in favor of guiding her to the bed where she passed out within minutes.

Winn, however, laid on the couch awake. Thought after thought ran through his mind, in the absence of any real explanation from Lily his made continued to make wilder and wilder scenarios. Most of which sounded conveniently like the plot of _Star Wars_ so he ignored them. But one thing lingered, _had someone actually been 'taken' (kidnapped?)?_ Or was that her drunken way of explaining a much milder scenario.

One _other_ thing hovered in the back of Winn's mind, but he refused to acknowledge it at present. Just how much seeing his girlfriend liquored up and angry had _scared_ him. He knew she wouldn't hit him, _she wasn't like that, was she?_

_Ring._

The sound of a phone startled him out of his spiraling thoughts. His hand absently patted the pocket of his jeans before he realized that the sound was coming from his bedroom. Lily's phone was vibrating angrily on the nightstand where he'd left it.

The called ID read: _Alex Danvers_. Along with a rather goofy picture of a dark-haired woman in a lab coat making a face as she reached for the camera, a hastily scribbled mustache had been edited onto the photo. The name rang a bell with Winn, as did the picture. He'd only met her once in person, but he knew that this was Kara's older sister. If he remembered correctly from one of Kara's latest rants over a slice of pizza and a good movie, Alex worked with Lily at the DEO. Perhaps she'd be able to help Winn figure out what the hell had happened to his girlfriend.

He picked it up hastily before it could roll over to voicemail. "Hello?"

The response he got was sharp and clipped, "who is this and why do you have Lily's phone?"

"Winn. I—" He started, not quite sure what to say.

"Where's Lily?" Alex's response was warmer this time, but still just as worried.

"She passed out." Winn hesitated to mention the bar, he wasn't quite sure how close Lily and Alex were and he didn't want to get her in trouble at work.

There was a curse on the other end of the line and a faint rustling sound and the muffled sound of someone talking on the other end. ' _I'm fine_ ,' Alex said petulantly, her voice muffled as she spoke to someone else. "Was she at that bar again?" Her words were clearer this time and Winn knew she was talking to him.

"Yes." He answered simply, getting the distinct impression that she understand the situation _much_ better than he did.

"Dammit." A muffled clattering noise accompanied Alex's exclamation and he could hear her having a muffled argument with someone on the other end of the line, ' _I have to go_ '.

"What are you doing?" Winn asked, no longer able to hold back his curiosity.

"Ugh. Strap in, I have a lot to tell you."

Winn knew she couldn't see him, but he sat down anyway.

Lily blinked at the harsh sunlight streaming in through the window. With a groan, she rolled over, away from the light, but the pounding in her head wouldn't go away. She opened her eyes and then closed them again quickly, that had been completely the wrong move to make. All the light in the room felt like little pinpricks against her eyes. _Advil,_ she thought to herself, that's what she needed. Trying to ignore the sunlight made her eyes feel like they were on fire, she slipped out of bed quickly and nearly ran into a wall.

_Huh?_

Lily could've sworn she didn't have a wall there or a Darth Vader alarm clock... She moved out of the bedroom, trying to assess her situation as much as the pounding in her head would allow. Now that she was in the den, she at least recognized where she was: _Winn's apartment._

Complete with a snoring Winn on the couch.

Lily smiled to herself as she moved to the kitchen, trying to remember how she'd gotten here. She filled a glass with water as she mentally cycled through the bits of the night that she remembered. A few tears leaked down her cheeks as forced herself to remember the encounter with the Hellgrammite. Her hand immediately flew to her back pocket to call Alex or someone else at the DEO, but of course, it wasn't there.

She downed the rest of the water in one and moved back toward the bedroom, hoping to find her phone. Winn shifted in his sleep as Lily moved past the couch, nearly rolling off of the couch entirely. He blinked at her blearily, his eyes red from lack of sleep. It was only now Lily noticed that he had been clutching her phone in his hand as he slept.

"So, you have my phone." She said in lieu of a greeting.

"Yeah." He nodded, stretching in a way that made it clear a night on the couch hadn't done his back any favors. She reached a hand out and he gave her phone to her. "Alex called." Winn offered, as Lily had begun to type furiously on her, guessing what she was doing. Lily's hands stilled and she looked at Winn, desperate for him to continue. "She's ok, Kara got her out. She was in the med unit when she called."

Lily sank onto the arm of the couch, her legs suddenly made of jello. "She's _ok_?" Her voice cracked on the last word and a fresh cascade of tears fell down her cheeks. She tried to wipe them away quickly, unable to shake the feeling of weakness at crying in front of another person.

Winn nodded, sliding down the couch to wrap an arm around her. "Breakfast?" He suggested gently and she shook her head.

"I need to see Alex."

Winn smiled then, "Alex knew you'd say that. She said to tell you and I quote: 'if you show up without eating and sleeping she'll kick your ass'."

Lily smiled too, a wet laugh quaking through her. "She would say that." She shook her head in fond exasperation. "Everything that's happened and she's worried about me."

"She's not the only one." She could tell Winn was trying to make it a casual throwaway statement, but the words were oddly heavy as they hung between them. "You scared me last night."

Lily nodded, biting her lip, and trying to ignore the memory of Winn's hands shaking as he'd reached for her the night before. "I know," and she hated the way that her voice was absolutely steady. Just another Luthor ice queen.

"Alex and I, we talked. She said—is that what you do every time..." _it gets hard?_ The last unspoken part of that sentence reached her just as clearly as if he'd shouted it.

The words hovered on her tongue before she finally forced them out. "I hadn't done it in a long time, but things have been...bad lately."

Winn looked as though her words pained him. "Why didn't you say anything?"

She looked away, the words painfully reminding her of her damaged family. "It's not..." She fumbled with the rest of the sentence, trying to figure out a way to say it without giving away her entire life story, "who I am."

Winn's jaw set as he prepared his next words. "You can't keep it all inside. One day you'll just explode and who knows what you might do then."

"You're not talking about me anymore, are you?" Lily had a sinking feeling that she knew who the true subject of his words was.

Winn shrugged helplessly. "That's exactly what _he_ "—Winn's voice cracked—"he did." Winn looked at her then, his expression so pleading and broken that it broke her heart. Lily leaned her head on his shoulder gently as he talked, and his arm around her tightened. "He just bottled it all up. He was quiet, and no one knew anything was wrong until he blew up a building."

Lily opened and closed her mouth a few times, choosing her next words very carefully. "I can't promise to tell you everything." The words felt hot on Lily's tongue, the weight of the half-truth resonating through her, especially when Winn was so vulnerable. "But I can try to tell you more. I definitely won't get this right at first, but I'm willing to give it a shot if you are, _hot Schott_." She added the last two words as a joke, and just like that the moment of tension was gone.

"Breakfast?" Lily offered, parroting Winn's earlier statement.

Winn smiled, "that sounds great."


End file.
